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A STUDY IN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 



PUBLiSHBD UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE 

SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS 

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBUROH 



The Negro Migrant in 
Pittsburgh 



ABRAHAM EPSTEIN 

B. S. io Economics 



PRICE FIFTY CENTS 



PITTSBUROH, PA, 
!918 






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I ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS BOOK | 

I MAY BE PROCURED FROM j 

I A. EPSTEIN i 

f IRENE KAUFMANN SETTLEMENT f 

I 1835 CENTER AVENUE : PITTSBURGH, PA. | 

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A STUDY IN SOCIAL ECONOMICS 



PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE 

SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS 

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 



The Ne§:ro Migfrant in 
Pittsburgfh 



BY 



ABRAHAM EPSTEIN 

B. S. in Economics 



PRICE FIFTY CENTS 



PITTSBURGH, PA. 
1918 



.nu 



CONTENTS 

Chapter I. — General Conditions Among Negro Migrants 

in Pittsburgh Page 7 

Chapter II. — The Negro's Own Problem Page 28 

Chapter III. — The Community's Problem Page 4*6 

(a) Delinquency Study Page 46 

(b) Health Study • Page 54 

(c) Summary Page 64 

Chapter IV. — Constructive Suggestions Page 68 

Appenmx Page 71 



mm 

DEC 20 StI 



PREFACE. 

The main purpose of this study was not merely the at- 
tempt at a piece of research. The writer undertook it originally 
in the early spring as a student volunteer with the sole aim of 
doing his share in the development of a more virile civic 
consciousness in Pittsburgh, and to contribute something to- 
ward the orientation and adjustment of the newcomers in our 
community. Thanks to the generous cooperation of Mr. Walter 
A. May, the writer was enabled to devote all his time since 
June 1917 to the completion of this study. An attempt has been 
made to interpret the data from the social point of view. The 
conclusions are not offered as final but it is hoped they may 
serve as the basis for a practical community program and per- 
haps for further study. 

The writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Prof. 
Francis D. Tyson for his counsel and assistance in planning 
and organizing this study. Without his cooperation, the study 
could not have been undertaken or completed. The writer also 
acknowledges his thanks to Mr. George M. P. Baird of the 
English Department, University of Pittsburgh for reading the 
manuscript and making many suggestions as to style. Much 
thanks is also due to Mr. Edmund Feldman for his valuable 
assistance in preparing the tables and making the graphs. 
To the Irene Kaufmann Settlement and its resident workers, the 
Avriter wishes to express his gratitude and appreciation for their 
cooperation and hospitality. 

Pittsburgh, Pa., A. E. 

December 1, 1917. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/negromigrantinpiOOepst 



INTRODUCTION 

This little study of the Negro Migration to Pittsburgh 
was first suggested as a thesis subject in a university class in 
Social Economy in May, 1917. Our great steel city of the 
North calls many unskilled workers to its mills. The migration 
of Negroes to fill the gaps in the ranks of this labor force, 
opened up by the cessation of European immigration following 
the war has been under way for nearly eighteen months. Ex- 
panding steel production continues to call for more workers. 
From the first labor agents of railroads and steel mills as well 
as private employment agencies have been at work gathering in 
the new army of laborers. 

By last spring newspaper reports of housing congestion, 
and of suffering from pneumonia and other diseases, and tales 
of the increase of crime and vice were being spread. There was 
spoken comment of the new situation on every hand. But these 
reports were inaccurate; they gave no concrete estimate of the 
number and character of the newcomers; and no definite state- 
ture of their life here or the problems of community adjust- 
ment created by the influx of strange people. 

It is to be hoped that the attempt at an intensive and 
supervised investigation represented by these pages will prove 
of value to those members of both races who have already seen 
in the migration new opportunity for a people whose need has 
been bitter, as well as a chance for manifold human service. 
Perhaps the all-too-faulty product may justify the painstaking 
effort of the investigator who toiled through the hot summer 
months and the generosity of the pubhc-spirited citizen whose 
interest made the study possible. 

The report may be of value also in offering suggestions to 
those workers in other cities who are dealing with the same 
many-sided and baffling problem, so full of pathos and tragedy 
and so expressive of the need of community cooperation. At 
least they may avoid the pitfalls upon which we have stumbled. 
For Pittsburgh it may well be that the material gathered here 
will be used to assist in carrying forward a constructive pro- 
gram for adjusting the new worJs;ers permanently to our com- 
munity life. Industrial production here in a time of crisis 
depends in part upon our Negro labor supply, the stability 
and efficiency of which can be permanently secured only by 
successful experiments in the fields of housing, health, and 
recreation. FRANCIS TYSON, 

University of Pittsburgh, Professor of Social Economy. 

December, 1917. 



GENERAL CONDITIONS AMONG NEGRO MIGRANTS 
IN PITTSBURGH 

Chapter I. 

The Negro population of the Pittsburgh Districts in Alle- 
gheny County, was 27,753 in the year 1900 and had increased 
to 34,217 by the year 1910, according to the latest United 
States Census figures available.* The increase during this per- 
iod was 23.3%. Assuming the continuation of this rate of 
increase, the total Negro population in 1915 would be about 
38,000. 

From a canvas of twenty typical industries in the Pitts- 
burgh district, it was found that there were 2,550 Negroes 
employed in 1915, and 8,325 in 1917, an increase of 5,775 or 
227%. It was impossible to obtain labor data from more than 
approximately sixty percent of the Negro employing concerns, 
but it is fair to assume that the same ratio of increase holds 
true of the remaining forty percent. On this basis the number 
of Negroes now employed in the district may be placed at 14,000. 
This means that there are about 9,750 more Negroes working 
in the district today than there were in 1915, an addition due 
to the migration from the South. 

A schedule study of over five hundred Negro migrants 
indicates that tliirty percent of the new comers have their 
families with them, and that the average family consists of three 
persons, excluding the father.** Adding to the total number of 
new workers, (9,750), the product obtained by multiplying 
thirty percent by three, (average family), we find a probable 
total new Negro population of 18,550 in 1917- 

This sudden and abnormal increase in the Negro popu- 
lation within so short a time, of necessity involves a tremendous 
change, and creates a new situation, which merits the attention 
of the whole community. Before this great influx of Negroes 
from the South, the Negro population which constituted only 
3.4% of the total city population, lived in a half dozen sections 
of the city. Although not absolutely segregated, these dis- 
tricts were distinct. 

*13th U. S. Census, Penna. Bulletin, Table I, page 12; 1910. 

**This average was obtained by dividing the total number of women and 
children of the families investigated, by the number of families. 



Because of the high cost of materials and labor, incident 
to the war ; because the taxation system still doos not encourage 
improvementsjt and because of investment attractions other than 
in realty, few houses have been built and practically no improve- 
ments have been made. This is most strikingly apparent in the 
poorer sections of the city. In the Negro sections, for instance, 
there have been almost no houses added and few vacated by whites 
within the last two years. The addition, therefore, of thou- 
sands of Negroes, just arrived from Southern states, meant not 
only the creation of new Negro quarters and the dispersion of 
Negroes throughout the city, but also the utmost utilization of 
every place in the Negro sections capable of being transformed 
into a habitation. Attics and cellars, store-rooms and base- 
1 ments, churches, sheds and warehouses had to be employed for 
1 the accommodation of these new-comers. Whenever a Negro 
Ihad space which he could possibly spare, it was converted into a 
Weeping place; as many beds as possible were crowded into it, 
|and the maximum number of men per bed were lodged. Either 
ecause their own rents were high, or because they were unable 
o withstand the temptation of the sudden, and, for all they 
new, temporary harvest, or, perhaps because of the altruistic 
esire to assist their race fellows, a majority of the Negroes 
iiu Pittsburgh converted their homes into lodging houses. 

/ Because rooms were hard to come by, the lodgers were not 
disposed to complain about the living conditions or the prices 
charged. They were only too glad to secure a place where 
they could share a half or at least a part of an unclaimed bed. 
It was no easy task to find room for a family, as most boarding 
houses would accept only single men, and refused to admit wo- 
men and children. Many a man, who with his family occupied 
only one or two rooms, made place for a friend or former 
townsman and his family. In many instances this was done from 
unselfish motives and in a humane spirit. 

A realization of the need for accurate information con- 
cerning the Negro migration, and the belief that in an intelli- 
gent treatment of the problem lay the welfare of the entire 
community as well as that of the local Negro group, prompted 
the attempt at a scientific study of the situation. The 
primary purpose of the study was to learn the facts, but 
there was also a hope that the data obtained might lead to the 
amelioration of certain existing evils and the prevention of 
threatening ones. 

fThe Pittsburgh Graded Tax Law has. apparently, not been in opera- 
tion long enough to produce the results desired by its sponsors. 



In order to ascertain as many of the facts as possible 
concerning housing conditions, rooming and boarding houses, 
three or four family tenement houses, single family residences, 
camps, churches and other lodging places were investigated. A 
comparative study of health and crime among Negroes of Alle- 
gheny County before and after the period of the Northern 
migration was also attempted. 




storerooms in the Hill District Converted into Family Residences and 

Rooming' Houses. 



A questionaire concerning kinds of labor in which Negro 
migrants engaged, and wages paid them both in Pittsburgh 
and in their native South was prepared; and answers to it 
from over five hundred individuals were obtained during the 
months of July and August, 1917. Information relating to 
housing, rents, health and social conditions was elicited in a 
similar manner. An effort was made to visit and study every 
Negro quarter in Pittsburgh. Data was secured from the 
Negro sections in the Hill District and upper Wyhe and Bed- 
ford Avenues; the Lawrenceville district, about Penn Avenue, 
between Thirty-fourth and Twenty-eighth Streets; the North- 
side Negro quarter around Beaver Avenue and Fulton Street; 
the East Liberty section in the vicinity of Mignonette and 
Shakespeare Streets, and the new downtown Negro section on 
Second Avenue, Ross and Water Streets. 

The information thus secured is discussed in the following 
pages. 



TABLE NUMBER I 

Time of Residence in Pittsburgh of 505 Negro Migrants 

Questioned 

SINGLE 



1 MONTH ■■■■■^■■■■^■■■Bi 

3 MONTHS ■■■■I^IHHIH 51 ■■■^■■^■■■■■H 70 

6 MONTHS ■■■■■B 28 ^■■■■■■■■■■■■H 74 

12 MONTHS ■■■■ 21 ■■■■■■^^■■■■■^^ 80 

OVER 12 IJ^H 13 ■■■■ 24 

TOTAL PERCENT 

1 flHBHIHHiBHHBiHHBII^^Hl^^^^^^ 144 

3 MONTHS anHHBHBBmBI^HiBHHHBHii^BBI 121 

6 MONTHS ^^■■■■■■■■■■^■■■^■H 102 
12 MONTHS ■■■■■■■■^^^■^^■■■i 101 
OVER 12 I^Hl^HH 37 7 

Table No. 1 indicates that the migration has been 
going on for Httle longer than one year. Ninety-three per- 
cent of those who gave the time of residence in Pittsburgh had 
been here less than one year. More than eighty percent of the 
single men interviewed had been here less than six months. In the 
number who have been here for the longest periods, married men 
predominate, showing the tendency of this class to become 
permanent residents. This fact is evidently well known to some 
industrial concerns which have been bringing men from the 
South. Many of them have learned from bitter experience that 
the mere delivery of a train load of men from a Southern city, 
does not guarantee a sufficient supply of labor. This is evi- 
denced by the fact that the labor agents of some of these firms, 
made an effort to secure married men only, and even to in- 
vestigate them prior to their coming here. Differences in re- 
cruiting methods may also explain why some employers and 
labor agents hold a very optimistic view of the Negro as a 
worker, while others despair of him. The reason why Pitts- 
burgh has been unable to secure a stable labor force is doubtless 
realized by the local manufacturers. The married Negro 
comes to the North to stay. He desires to have his family with 
him, and if he is not accompanied North by his wife and chil- 
dren he plans to have them follow him at the earliest possible 
date. Although such a man is glad to receive the better treat- 
ment, enlarged privileges and higher wages, which are ac- 
corded him here, he cannot adjust himself permanently to 

10 



the Pittsburgh housing situation. He meets his first insuperable 
difficulty when he attempts to get a house in which to live. Back 
South, he may have been oppressed, but his home was often in a 
more comfortable place, where he had light and space. At 
least he did not have to live in one room in a congested slum 
and pay excessive rents. 

While it is true that the foreign immigrant of a few years 
ago was probably not accorded any better accommodations in 
Pittsburgh than is the Negro at present, it should be remem- 
bered that the foreigner did not know the language. Every- 
thing seemed strange and unfamiliar to him. He was loath 
to move to an even stranger part of the city and preferred to 
stay in his first new world home and to live among his own people, 
even under adverse conditions. It is altogether different with 
the Negro. He knows the language and the country ; he does 
not fear to migrate and when he does not feel content in one 
place, he proceeds to look for a better one. We might cite 
dozens of incidents of men who have either had their families 
here or intended to bring them, but have gone to other cities 
wliere they hoped to find better accommodations. This is cer- 
tain to continue if cities like Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia 
keep in advance of Pittsburgh in building or providing 
houses for these migrants. The Pittsburgh manufacturer will 
never keep an efficient labor supply of Negroes until he learns 
to compete with the employers of the other cities in a housing 
programme as well as in wages. 

The actual situation of the Pittsburgh housing problem 
for the Negro is shown by the figures obtained in our survey. 
'Almost ninety-eight percent of the people investigated live 
either in rooming houses or in tenements containing more than 
three families. Thirty-five percent live in tenement houses, 
fifty percent in rooming houses, about twelve percent in camps 
and churches, and only two and a half percent live in what may 
be termed single private family residences. 

TABLE NUMBER II 

Kinds of Residences of 465 Negro Migrants Questioned 

SINGLE FAMILIES TOTAL PERCENT 



Tenement 


30 


133 


163 


35 


Rooming and Boarding 


223 


9 


232 


50 


One Family House 


6 


5 


11 


2.5 


Camp 


36 





36 


7.5 


Mission 


23 





23 


5. 




318 


147 


465 


100 




11 









Of the men without families here, only twenty-two out of 
more than three hundred had individual bed rooms. Twenty- 
five percent lived four in a room, and twenty-five percent lived 
in rooms used by more than four people. Again only thirty- 
seven percent slept in separate beds, fifty percent slept two in a 
bed, and thirteen percent sleep three or more in a bed. 

TABLE NUMBER III 

NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN BED ROOM 
22 



ONE 

TWO 

THREE 

FOUR 

FIVE 

SIX 

OVER SIX 



111 



61 



98 



57 



The conditions in these rooming houses often beggar 
description. Sleeping quarters are provided not only in bed- 
rooms, but also in attics, basements, dining rooms and kitchens. 
In many instances, houses in which these rooms are located are 
dilapidated dwellings with the paper torn off, the plaster sag- 
ging from the naked lath, the windows broken, the ceiling low 
and damp, and the whole room dark, stuffy and unsanitary. In 
one or two instances, these rooms, with more than six people 
sleeping in them at one time, have practically no openings for 
either light or air. 




A Typical Boarding- House on Lower Wylie Avenue. 
12 



In the more crowded sections, beds are rented on a double 
shift basis. Men who work at night sleep during the day in 
the beds vacated by day workers. There is no space in these 
rooms, except for beds and as many of them are crowded in as 
can be possibly accommodated. 

There is rarely a place in these rooms for even suitcases 
or trunks. Under such circumstances the rooms can be kept 
clean with difficulty, and there is apparently no disposition to 
wrestle with the dirt and litter. Very few of these sleeping 
rooms have more than two windows each, and many have only 
one window. Only a few are provided with bath rooms, while 
a great number have the water and toilets in the yards or othei 
places outside the house. Many of these roomers complain 
that often they are not given any soap, and are never given 
more than one towel a week. 

TABLE NUMBER IV 

Rents Paid in Rooming Houses by 305 Roomers 

Percentage 
168 paid $1.50 per week 55 

103 paid $1.75 per week 34 

13 paid $2.00 per week 4.25 

14 paid $3.00 per week 4.25 
7 paid Over $3.00 2.5 



100 

The rents paid by these roomers are shown in table numbei" 
IV. They varied from $1.50 to $3.00 per week, and in a few 
instances were as high as $4.00 per week. In a number of 
cases, the men also board in the same place in which they room, 
paying from five to seven or eight dollars per week for food 
and shelter. 

TABLE NUMBER V. 

ONE WEEK'S COST OF BOARD PER MAN 

$2PERWEEK ■ 4 

$3 PER WEEK BB^HBHHHHHI 34 

$4 PER WEEK ■■■■■■■■iHB 39 

$5 PER WEEK ^^^■■■■■■■■■■iHHH^ 59 



$6 PER WEEK 

$7 PER WEEK 

$8 PER WEEK 
AND OVER 



The situation in the camps is not better than that in 
rooming houses. In one railroad camp visited, the men were 

13 



lodged in box cars, each of which was equipped with four or 
eight beds, or they were quartered in a row of wooden houses 
two stories high, each room of which contained from six to 
eight beds. It is true that the rents charged in this camp were 
only the nominal sum of five cents per night, or $1.50 per 
month, but the men had to buy their food from the camp com- 
missary, using company checks, and also had to prepare it 
themselves. Practically every man interviewed complained of 
the high prices charged, and that this complaint was not al- 
together groundless was evident from the scanty purchases 
being made by these men at the time of the investigator's visit. 
In another railroad camp, located near Pittsburgh, which was 
visited in the early spring, about one hundred men were lodged 
in one big "bunkhouse", containing about fifty double-tier beds. 
Although there were adequate toilet and shower bath facilities, 
the beds were unclean. This company also boarded these 

men, making a flat weekly charge. 




Box Cars in a Railroad Camp in Pittsburgli used as Living and Sleeping- 
Quarters. 

The rooming houses with one exception are conducted 
by colored people, who act either as janitors or as hosts. In 
only one case, as far as our investigation extended, did we find 
a white woman running a rooming house for colored people. 
Many of these houses are in reality run by Whites, who keep 
a colored janitor or manager in the House. Several of the 
big rooming houses on lower Wylie Avenue, for instance, are 
conducted for a local white merchant, who keeps a colored jani- 

14 



tor in each of them, and only visits them to check the books 
and collect the rents. In many instances however, houses are 
operated by colored people, who either run or lease them. Most 
of these lessees or owners are Pittsburghers, but a few are new- 
comers, who, having brought a bit of capital with them have 
opened rooming houses as investments. Some of these people 
have become the prey of cunning landlords. In one case in the 
down town section, a colored migrant rented an old and di- 
lapidated shack, paying fifty dollars a month, and was un- 
aware that the contract signed by him specified that he pay 
for his own repairs. The Negro claims that as the house is 
very old and in such bad condition, it would cost him an ad- 
ditional fifty dollars each month to keep it habitable. 

h 
z 

TABLE NUMBER VI o 

DC 

Number of Rooms Per Family of 157 Negro Families °- 

ONE ROOM ■■■^^^^^^■^^^^^^^■■■■■^■■■■■■^^^Bi^BmH 77 

TWO ROOMS m^g^^gm^lingi^^l^g 33 21 

THREE ROOMS HHBBBBBHBB 18 12 

OVER FOUR ^BHBHBBB 13 3 

The deplorable housing of migrant families is shown in 
table number VI. Of the 157 families investigated, seventy- 
seven or 49% live in one room each. Thirty-three or 21% live 
in two-room apartments, and only forty-seven families or 30% 
live in apartments of three or more rooms each. 

Of these forty-seven families, thirty-eight kept roomers or 
boarders, totalling one hundred and thirty-one, or an average 
of 3.5 roomers per family. Eighty-one of the total of one 
hundred and thirty-nine houses inspected, had water inside the 
house, while fifty-eight houses secured water from yard or 
street hydrants or from neighbors. Only thirty-four of the 
total were equipped with interior toilet facilities ; the rest had 
outside toilets. Of the latter, forty-two had no sewerage con- 
nections, and used filthy, unsanitary vaults. 

The rents paid for the "residences" described above ap- 
pear in the following table : 



15 



$10 PER MONTH 
$15 PER MONTH 
$20 PER MONTH 
$25 PER MONTH 
OVER $25 



TABLE NUMBER VII 

Rents Paid hy 142 Families Investigated 



18 



The sections formerly designated as Negro quarters, have 
been long since congested beyond capacity by the influx of 
newcomers, and a score of new colonies have sprung up in hol- 
lows and ravines, on hill slopes and along river banks, by rail- 
road tracks and in mill-yards. In many instances the dwell- 
ings are those which have been abandoned hy foreign white 
people since the beginning of the present war. In some cases 
they are structures once condemned by the City Bureau of 
Sanitation, but opened again only to accommodate the influx 




A Row of Houses Unused for Several Years Until the Present Influx from 

the South. 

from the South. Very few of these houses are equipped with 
gas. Coal and wood are used both for cooking and heating. 
During the hot days of July, the visitor found in several in- 
stances a red hot stove in a room which was being used as 
kitchen, dining room, parlor and bedroom. This, however, did 
not seem to bother the newcomers, as many of the women, being 
unaccustomed to the use of gas, and fearful of it, preferred the 
more accustomed method of cooking. 

A few of these families were found living in so-called "base- 
ments", more than three-fourths under ground, a direct violation 

16 



of a municipal ordinance. + Some rooms had no other opening 
than a door. The rents paid for such quarters are often be- 
yond belief. In one of these rooms in the Hill District, where 
only the upper halves of the windows were level with the side- 
walk, lived a man, his wife and their five children, the eldest of 
whom was sixteen years old. The rental was six dollars per 
week. Another family paid twenty-five dollars per month for 
three small rooms on the ground floor. The kitchen Avas so 
damp and close that the investigator found it impossible to 
remain for long, because it was difficult to breathe. The ceil- 
ings in many of the houses visited were very low, hardly highe 
than six or seven feet and the rooms were often piled high with 
furniture. That the owners of these houses cared little about 
improving their houses was indicated in several cases by the fact 
that water faucets and toilets had been out of commission for 
months, and no eff'ort at repair had been made. 



Bcnom^ 




"Basement" Occupied by a Migrant Family. The Only Opening in this 
Dwelling Appears in the Picture. 

Because of these bad conditions many peculiar maladjust- 
ments exist. A certain man lived in a rooming house, while his 
young wife and baby lived in another place. In addition to his 
own rent and board, he paid ten dollars a week for the keep of 
his wife and baby. In another case, a family was forced to 
pay six dollars a month storage on the furniture which they 
had brought from the South, because their new quarters were 
too cramped to accommodate it. 

tPittsburgh Sanitary Code of 1913, Sections 132, 133 and 134, pages 75, 
76 and 77. 

17 



A goodly number of the migrants have evidently been ac- 
customed to much better living conditions than are oiFered them 
here, and in spite of almost insurmountable obstacles, still pre- 
serve something of their cleanly habits. Few of these people 
intend to remain here unless they can get a better place to stay. 
All complained, some with tears in their eyes, of the bad 
housing accorded them. As one intelligent and hard working 
woman who lived in one room expressed it while packing her 
trunks to go back to Sylvester, Georgia, "I never lived in such 
houses in my life. We had four rooms in my home." This 
woman was earning ten dollars per week and her husband was 
profitably employed, yet they choose to relinquish the compara- 
tively large rewards of the North, rather than do without the 
decencies of life which they had known in the South. 

TABLE NUMBER VIII 

Ages of the 506 Migrants Interviewed 

SINGLE MARRIED TOTAL PERCENTAGE 

Under 18 years 13 1 14 3 

From 18 to 25 115 39 154 30 

From 25 to 30 

From 30 to 40 

From 40 to 50 

From 50 to 60 

60 and over 



31 


63 


94 


19 


34 


101 


135 


27 


7 


66 


73 


14 


4 


28 


32 


6 


2 


2 


4 


1 



206 300 506 

AGES OF MIGRANTS 



100 



UNDER 18 YEARS 
FROM 18 TO 25 1 

FROM 25 TO 30 
FROM 30 TO 40 
FROM 40 TO 50 
FROM 50 TO 60 
60 AND OVER 



94 



135 



73 



Table number VIII is significant because it enables us to shed 
light upon one important phase of the migration. It appears 
that more than seventy-five percent of the Southern migrants 
are between the ages of eighteen and forty. Only ten percent 
of the 506 people questioned were under eighteen or past fifty 
years of age. This fact is significant, both to the industrial 
concerns which are in need of a labor supply and to the com- 
munity as a whole. For the industrial concerns, it means that 

18 



* 



/ 



these migrants are the most desirable laborers, men at the 
height of their wealth producing capacity. They satisfy the 
pressing need which has confronted the local manufacturers 
since the foreign supply of labor was cut oif by the war. From 
the standpoint of the community, it is important to know that 
the influx lays few immediate burdens upon the city. There 
are few minors to be educated and few aged or dependent ones 
likely to become a public charge. 

The percentage of single people between the ages of 
eighteen and thirty is far greater than that of the married 
ones, which is a natural expectation. Of the five hundred and 
thirty persons interviewed, two hundred and nineteen or forty- 
one and one-half percent were single; one hundred sixty-two 
or thirty and one-half percent were married, and had al- 
ready brought their families here, while one hundred and 
thirty-nine or twenty-eight percent were married, but were here 
without their families. Ninety-eight of the families had chil- 
dren ; thirty-nine of the families had no children here, and 
seventeen families either had some or all of the children in the 
South, while the remaining six placed their children under the 
care of relatives or institutions. The number of children per 
family of those who had their wives here, varied from one to ten. 
Forty families had one child each; twenty-three, two children 
each, fifteen had three children each, and twenty had four or 
more children each. Nineteen families had one or more chil- 
dren under twenty helping to support them, but only four 
had more than one child assisting in the support of the family. 
Among the one hundred and forty-nine persons whose families 
remained in the South, ninety-six had children and seventeen 
had none. Of the remainder a number stated that they had 
one or two of their children with them, while others gave no 
definite information. Sixty-three of those who had children 
at home had no more than two children each, while thirty-three 
had three or more children at home. These figures seem to 
indicate that the migration is largely that of small families. 

The Negro migration from^ the South into Pittsburgh, 
while it has been accentuated and accelerated by the present 
war, which created a greater need for labor, is not in reality 
an altogether new thing for Pittsburgh. There has been a 
steady influx of Negroes, though in small numbers, since the 
pre Civil War days. Pittsburgh and Allegheny were import- 
ant stations of the Underground Railway, and many a Negro 
came to Pittsburgh from the near-by slave states, as to a city 
of refuge. The Negro population in Allegheny County grew 

19 



steadily from 3431 in 1850 to 34,217 in 1910. The percentage 
of Negroes in the total population of the County has contin- 
ually increased within the last four decades. (Two and two- 
tenths percent in 1880 and three and four-tenths in 1910). 
Negroes have always been attracted by the opportunities 
which this city with its abundance of work and good wages 
could offer them in improving their economic status. 

The recent unprecedented influx of Negroes had made the 
Negro population in Pittsburgh increase more than twice as 
fast within the last two years as during the entire ten years 
preceding. The percentage of Negroes in our total population 
has leaped very suddenly. This fact is sufficient to warrant 
our serious study and active efforts toward the social orienta- 
tion and adjustment of the new element in our midst. 




V^ooden Shacks Used as Living and Sleeping Quarters in a Railroad Camp. 

From the standpoint of Pittsburgh's industrial and 
business interests, however, the migration into this district, has 
not been at all satisfactory. Pittsburgh as the steel center of 
the country, is naturally playing a more important part than 
ever in the present crisis, and has felt a proportionate increase 
in the need for a labor supply. The Negro migration in 
Pittsburgh, it can be safely stated, has not usurped the place 
of the white worker. Every man is needed, as there are more 
jobs than men to fill them. Pittsburgh's industrial life is 
for the time being dependent upon the Negro labor supply. 

In spite of its necessity, Pittsburgh has not received a 
sufficient supply of Negroes, and certainly not in the same full 
proportion as did many smaller industrial towns. Pittsburgh 
manufacturers are still in need of labor, and this in spite of the 
fact that the railroads and a few of the industrial concerns 

20 



of the locality have had labor agents in the South. These 
agents, laboring under great difficulties because of the ob- 
structive tactics adopted in certain southern communities to 
prevent the Negro exodus, have nevertheless succeeded in 
bringing several thousand colored workers into this district. 
That they have had little success in keeping these people here, 
is acknowledged by all of them. One company for instance, 
which imported about a thousand men within the past year, 
had only about three hundred of these working at the time of 
the investigator's visit in July, 1917. One railroad, which is 
said to have brought about fourteen thousand people to the 
North within the last twelve months, has been able to keep an 
average of only eighteen hundred at work. 

It must be admitted that the labor agents, because of 
their eagerness to secure as many men as possible, are not 
particular as to the character of those they are bringing here, 
and there is therefore a goodly number of idle and shiftless 
Negroes who are floating and undependable. On the other hand 
we must not fail to recognize that most migrants come through 
their own volition, pay their own fares, leave their native 
states, and break up family connections, because they are in 
search of better opportunities, social and economic./ As a class 
they appear to be industrious, ambitious, pious and temperate, 
and are eager to get established with their families. 

In the foregoing pages, we have discussed the housing 
and rooming situation which confronts the Negro. An exami- 
nation of the kind and hours of work and wages received, dis- 
closes another reason why many of these people do not remain 
here. 

TABLE NUMBER IX 
Occupations of Migrants in Pittsburgh as Compared with State- 
ments of Occupations in South^ 

OCCUPATIONS IK PITTSBURGH PEK IN SOUTH PER 

Common Laborer 468 

Skilled or semi-skilled 20 

Farmer 

Miner 

Saw Mill Workers 

Ran own farm or father's farm 

Ran farm on crop sharing basis 

Other Occupations 5 

493 100 529 100 

***The differences in the totals in this table as well as in a few others, 
are due to the fact that many have given answers to one question and not 
to the other. 

21 



CENTAGE 




CENTAGE 


95 


286 


54 


4 


59 


11 




81 


15 




36 


7 




9 


2 




33 


6 




22 


5 


1 









From the foregoing table, it is apparent that ninety-five 
percent of the migrants who stated their occupations, were 
doing unskilled labor, in the steel mills, the building trades, on 
the railroads, or acting as servants, porters, janitors, cooks and 
cleaners. Only twenty or four percent out of four hundred 
and ninety-three migrants whose occupations were ascertained, 
were doing what may be called semi-skilled or skilled work, as 
puddlers, mold-setters, painters and carpenters. On the other 
hand, in the South fifty-nine of five hundred and twenty-nine 
claimed to have been engaged in skilled labor, while a large 
number were rural workers. 



TABLE NUMBER X 

Comparison Between Hours of Work Per Day in Pittsburgh 

and in South 

HOURS OF LABOR 
IN PITTSBURGH 
UNDER 10 ■■■■■■■I 16% 



10 BHiBHi^H^BIHi^^^Bg^H^^^^HH 51% 

10 TO 12 ■BH^lHi^HHHiB^H 28% 

OVER 12 1^ 4% 

NOT STATED | 1% 

IN THE SOUTH 

UNDER 10 B^^^H^BBrnHnBi 27% 

10 HOURS ^^■■■■■^■■■■■IHBB 38% 

10 TO 12 

OVER 12 

NOT STATED ^^H 6.5% 

A comparison between work hours of migrants in the 
South and in Pittsburgh, reveals another interesting feature. 
As against the twenty-seven percent who were working less 
than ten hours a day at home, only sixteen percent are working 
for a like period here. A greater number work a ten-hour day 
here than in the South, (fifty-one percent as against thirty- 
eight percent), and there seems to be a greater number work- 
ing over twelve hours per day before coming North, than after- 
ward. This is probably due to the fact that a considerable 
body of these men were farm laborers. 

22 



TABLE NUMBER XI 

Comparison of Wages Received Per Day in Pittsburgh and 

i/n South 

IN PITTSBURGH 
UNDER $2.00 T 5% 

TO ^■^^■^■■^■■■^^■■^^^l^Hl^i^HI^^^H 62% 

$3.00 TO $3.60 m^lHHBIH^^^HH ^^% 

OVER $3.60 ■■§ 5% 

IN THE SOUTH 

UNDER $2.00 ^Hfli^^Hi^^Bl^HBi^BI^HBBHI^Hi^^H 56% 

$2.00 TO $3.00 ■■■^^^■■^■i^^ 25% 

$3.00 TO $3.60 ^H 4% 

OVER $3.60 BHHi^^H 15% 

As to the comparative wages paid here and in the South, it 
appears from table number X, that the great mass of 
workers get higher wages here than in the places from which 
they come, fifty-six percent received less than two dollars a 
day in the South, while only five percent received such wages 
in Pittsburgh. However the number of those who said they re- 
ceived high wages in the South is greater than the number of 
those receiving them here. Fifteen percent said they received 
more than three dollars and sixty cents a day at home, while only 
five percent received more than that rate for twelve hours work 
here. Sixty-seven percent of the four hundred and fifty-three 
persons stating their earnings here, earn less than three dollars 
per day. Twenty-eight percent earn from three dollars to three 
sixty per day, while only five percent earn more than three dol- 
lars and sixty cents per day. The average working day for both 
Pittsburgh and the South is ten and four-tenths hours. The 
average wage is $2.85 here; in the South it amounted to $2.15. 
It may be interesting to point out that the number of married 
men who work longer hours and receive more money is pro- 
portionately greater than that of the single men, who have not 
"given hostages to fortune." 

It has been stated frequently that the Negro exodus from 
the South is in a large measure due to the fact that the 
Southern states have adopted prohibition. While it is true 
that most of the newcomers are from prohibition states, our 
figures, however, do not warrant the conclusion that the Ne- 
groes came North to use the saloon. We are inclined to believe 
that the answers to this question were sincere. The classification 

23 



of "drinkers" includes all persons who imbibe however infre- 
quently and those who drink beer only. Out of the four hun- 
dred and seventy-seven persons who answered these questions, 
two hundred and ten or forty-four percent said that they drank, 
while two hundred and sixty-seven or fifty-six percent were 
total abstainers. It is interesting to note that among those who 
have families in Pittsburgh, the percentage of those who drink 
is smaller than among those who are single or have families 
elsewhere. Thirty percent of the former class drink, while 
seventy percent do not drink at all. The percentage of drink- 
ers of those with their families at home, is even greater than 
those of the single people, which may be explained by the fact 
that many of the younger people have as yet not acquired the 
drink habit. 

The church going proclivity of the Negro is well known 
and is borne out by our study. Of the four hundred and eighty- 
nine who replied to this question, three hundred and seventy or 
almost seventy-six percent are either church members or at- 
tendants, and only one hundred and nineteen or twenty-four 
percent do not attend any church. 

Proof that these newcomers are not all lazy, shiftless, and 
immoral is to be found in the statements of savings, and of 
remittances to relatives in the South. Fifteen percent of the 
families here had savings. Eighty percent^ of the married ones 
with families elsewhere were sending money home, and nearly 
one hundred of the two hundred and nineteen single people in- 
terviewed, were contributing sums to parents, sisters or other 
relatives. Most of these contributions, (sixty-five percent) 

amounted to about five dollars per week. Fifty-two persons 
were contributing from five to ten dollars per week, and seven 
M'ere sending over ten dollars per week. 

/'/ From table number XII, it seems that only a few of the 
x/Southern states have borne the brunt of the exodus. Alabama, 
Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia taken together, have con- 
tributed sixty percent of the migrants, Alabama and Georgia 
giving forty-seven percent of the total number. Alabama was 
the native state of more than forty-nine percent of the married 
men who have families here. This altogether disproportionate 
influx from Alabama, as compared with other states, is probably 
due to the fact that our state and the former have similar in- 
dustries. Birmingham, Alabama, as is well known, is called 
the "Pittsburgh of the South" ; and it is therefore natural that 

§The cause for many of these migrants not contributing to tlie support 
of tlieir families may be explained by the fact that they have not been here 
long enough to get established. 

24 



the labor agents from this district should make a special effort 
to secure the labor which is more or less familiar with the 
iron and steel business. Again, it may be presumed that a 
great many who were working in the steel industries or in the 
mines of Alabama have come to Pittsburgh in order to secure 
familiar employment. A considerable number, however, may 
have come because of the crop failure and the ravages of the 
boll-weevil which have made the cultivation of cotton unprofit- 
able during recent years. 



ALABAMA 



TABLE NUMBER XII 

Home States of 567 Migrants 



177 



GEORGIA 

NO. CAROLINA 

VIRGINIA 

FLORIDA 

MISSOURI 

TENNESSEE 

SO. CAROLINA 

W. VIRGINIA 

KENTUCKY 

PENNSYLVANIA 

OHIO 

MISSISSIPPI 

LOUISIANA 

ILLINOIS 

MARYLAND 

DIST. OF COL. 

TEXAS 

INDIANA 



66 




Undoubtedly many Negroes have come to the North in 
response to the seductive arts of labor agents, who worked on a 
per capita commission basis. These emissaries, both in the 
North and in the South, made glowing promises of high wages, 
social equality, and better hving conditions above the Mason- 
Dixon Line. But these inducements were probably not the 
underljung factor of the migration. They merely gave op- 
portunity for the expression of a growing discontent engend- 
ered by many years of oppression. Segregation, lynchings, 



25 



economic exploitation, and the denial of educational freedom, 
justice and constitutional right, had filled the Negro's cup of 
bitterness to overflowing. The South was to his mind still a 
place of bondage for him and in the North he saw that long 
dreamed Land of Promise where he might live more freely. 

Three hundred and ninety-five of the four hundred and 
seventy-four when questioned as to who paid their transpor- 
tation North replied that they paid their own fare, while only 
seventy-nine admitted they were brought here at the expense 
of railroads and other industrial concerns. Numerous stories 
of persecutions by the White South on trumped up charges of 
all sorts are told by these migrants. Many of them say they 
had to leave their homes in secrecy and at night, and to walk 





Typical Dwellings of Negro Migrants. 



to some station where they were not known, before they could 
board a train for the North. Many reported that they were 
unable to secure tickets at home, and had to secure them from 
the North. If tickets were discovered in the possession of a 
Negro, they were confiscated and destroyed by the police. At 
times when three or more Negroes were found together, they were 
suspected of "conspiring to go North" ; some mythical charge 
was brought against them, and they were arrested. Threats and 
intimidation of all kinds were used against these migrants, 
both at home and on the train. One very intelligent Negro of 
about forty who owned property in Alabama related some of 
the persecutions which he had borne while at home. He told 
of taking the train at night several miles away from his own 

26 



town, and of being accosted on board by a white Southerner 
who pointed to the next car which contained several coffins and 
said, "Yo Niggahs goin' to Pittsburgh, eh? We all are jes 
shippin' five of yo back from thah. They froze to death in 
Pittsburgh." It may be interesting to remark that this oc- 
cured in June, 1917, when Pittsburgh was sweltering in the 
heat of early summer. 

Of the more than four hundred men who stated their 
reasons for coming North, three hundred and twenty-five said 
that the higher wages and economic opportunities here had at- 
tracted them. Tw^o hundred and eighty-eight of these also 
included better treatment as one of the factors in their mi- 
gration. As one of them expressed it, "If I were half as well 
treated home as here, I would rather stay there, as I had my 
family there and had a better home and better health." Eighty- 
five had no special reason for their coming, and were "jes 
travelin' to see the country", or the like. Twenty-five were 
either tired of their work or wanted to change it. This was the 
case particularly with the miners from West Virginia and 
Alabama. Twenty-seven had either lost their jobs, were out 
of work, or had various other reasons for coming. These 
figures seem to indicate that the prime causes of the migration 
are rather fundamental, and not merely temporary./ 

The Negro migration is similar to the previous Euro- 
pean immigration because, while dominantly economic, it is also 
due to social and political maladjustments; but it is more 
largely a family migration. For the number of Negroes who 
brought women and children with them is greater in propor- 
tion to the total than was the case with the foreigners. The 
European usually came alone and sent for his family after a 
considerable lapse of time. The Negro either brings his family 
with him or sends for it within the first three or four months 
following his arrival. The complication of our housing prob- 
lem is obvious under these circumstances, for Pittsburgh until 
the present time has attempted to meet the housing require- 
ments of only single men workers of the new labor group. 

The short-sightedness of our failure to provide decent 
homes in the city, in order to retain the labor which is so es- 
sential for the expansion of Pittsburgh and the growth of its 
industries, is again exposed by the figures in our study. Of the 
three hundred and thirty single men, or men without families 
here, answering the question as to whether they will remain here, 
return South or move elsewhere, only ninety-two or twenty- 
eight percent said they would remain here. A hundred and 

27 



thirty-seven or forty-two percent were going back or some- 
where else, while one hundred and one or thirty percent were 
still undecided. 

As for the reasons why these men would not remain in the 
city, seventy-nine or fifty-seven percent were leaving because 
they could not get a better room because the rents paid by 
them were too excessive for the wages received; thirty-seven 
or twenty-seven percent, gave family connections as their reas- 
on, and the remaining sixteen percent either had no reasons or 
were leaving because of ill health, bad climate or other un- 
favorable conditions. The difficulty of securing an adequate 
labor supply for Pittsburgh is thus, in part, explained by the 
very nature of the economic problems involved. / 



CHAPTER II. 

The Negro's Own Problem 

The Negro migration is neither an isolated nor a tempo- 
rary phenomenon, but the logical result of a long series of 
linked causes beginning with the landing of the first slave ship 
and extending to the present day. The slavery which was 
ended by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Fourteenth 
Amendment of the National Constitution has been succeeded by 
less sinister, but still significant social and economic problems, 
which are full of subtle menace for the welfare of America. 

j The intelligent Negro has long believed that his only 

escape from the measure of suppression which still exists is to 
go to the North, and he has seized the opportunity whenever it 
was presented to him. The present unprecedented influx of 
black workers from the South is merely the result of a sudden 
expansion of opportunity due to a war-depleted labor market 
in the North. The causes for his migration are basically in- 
herent in the social and economic system which has kept him 
down for these long years in the South. The Negro is be- 
ginning to appreciate his own value and duties, and is proceed- 
ing to the North where he knows he can at least en j oy a measure 
of justice. This naturally means a tremendous problem for the 
North. The race question is no longer confined to the states 
below the Mason and Dixon Line, but becomes the concern of 
the whole nation. It may be presumed that the European im- 
migration after this war will not be as great as it was before it. 

28 



The Negro is taking the place of the foreign worker, and he is 
certain to become an increasingly important factor in our 
national political and industrial life. He is already an important 
political factor in some municipahties ; he is soon to be a basic 
factor in our industries. The Negro who has lived in the North 
has taken advantage of the industrial opportunities which were 
open to him, and is continuing to do so more and more. 

Our policy of laissez-faire adopted towards the European 
immigrant can no longer be contained. This war has taught 
us some great lessons, and probably the greatest of all is the 
lesson of the necessity for a redefinition of social terms, and a 
reconsideration of human values. It has made us realize that if 
we want the nation to stand united in times of stress our policy 
must be consistent at all times. Democracy we have learned in 
this struggle, no longer means "each for himself, and the devil 
take the hind-most." If it means anything at all, it is that 
we are "members one of another", and that an injury to one 
is an injury to and the concern of all. Our old policy has shown 
us that the devil has taken too many, and we have come to say, 
"Halt !" This must no longer continue. We must see that all the 
elements which go to make up our body-politic are adjusted 
and placed in their proper relation. Our traditional attitude, 
this struggle has taught us, is too costly and we cannot afford 
longer to continue it. We know now that it is not sufficient 
that a few may have democracy and freedom while the rest 
are denied economic opportunity. We are also coming to 
realize that "we cannot hold a part of our fellow-men doAvn in the 
gutter without remaining there ourselves." 

No exact estimate of the number of Negroes who have 
come North within the last year is possible. Estimates vary 
from three hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand. There 
are probably about two million Negroes now living in the North, 
and it is of paramount importance that we look into the con- 
ditions of these people who although in our midst, are yet so 
little known to us, and see that they are fitted into their new 
environment. Our little study of the social opportunities 
available, and the conditions existing among our Negro 
brethren may therefore be of great interest, and we are glad to 
present here some of the facts which were disclosed in our 
survey of these people who have recently settled amongst us, in 
order to avail themselves of our hospitality, and industrial op- 
portunities. We have discussed in the preceding pages the 

29 



immediate opportunities for Negroes in this city as to housing 
and wages. It may therefore not be amiss to discuss the pos- 
sibilities of his attaining an advanced pohtical, social and 
economic status. 

Politically, the Negro in Pittsburgh is as free as the 
whites of the same group. Coming from places where the vote 
is denied him, he is naturally very glad to receive the privilege 
in Pittsburgh. It is a well known fact that the Negro vote is 
often a deciding factor in the results of municipal elec- 
tions. Although there are a few shrewd Negro politicians, and 
the Negro vote is frequently "en hloc" there is never an issue 
made on some particular Negro problem. All candidates seem 
to assume that there is no special issue that concerns the 
Negro more than any other group in the city, and unscrupu- 
lous Negro politicians are not in the least perturbed. They 
always see to it, however, that no Negro vote will be lost, that 
their occupation tax is paid, and that they are registered. This 
was clearly brought out in this year's municipal election. Al- 
though the Negro vote was a great factor in deciding this cam- 
paign, not one of the candidates made an issue of the housing 
and other problems which are confronting the Negroes at pres- 
ent. It can therefore be stated that in politics, while the 
Negro has been utilized by all sorts of politicians, he has at 
least nominally been as free as his white brother in the same 
position. 

However, more and more we are coming to realize that 
political freedom without industrial opportunities means but 
little. Democracy must also mean industrial opportunity, and 
social democracy, as well as political democracy. But the in- 
dustrial opportunity which the Negro demands is not even 
the same as is demanded by his more fortunate white-skinned 
brother. While his fellow-human beings demand a larger voice 
in industry and business, and a greater share of the product, 
the Negro is still meekly begging for his inalienable right to 
participate in industry, to help extend and build it up. It is 
the denial of this right that confronts the Negro in the North, 
and makes his problem of paramount significance. 

The great majority of the Negro migrants come North 
because of the better economic and social opportunities here. 
But even here they are not permitted to enter industry freely. 
They are kept in the ranks of unskilled labor and in the field 
of personal service. Until the present demand for unskilled 
labor arose, the Negroes in the North were for the most part, 
servants. There were very few Negroes occupied otherwise than 

30 



as porters, chauffeurs, janitors and the like. The Negro at 
present has entered the productive industries, but he is kept 
still on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. 



TABLE NUMBER XIII 



List of Industrial Concerns Visited in the Pittsburgh District 



NAME OF CONCERN 






t>>05 

o ^-^ 
ft 



. o 



PI . 

o 



(D P 
P. Pi 



03 



be Q) 

CO r3 .-H 



CS 



^ p. 



Carnegie Steel Co. 4 

(all plants) 
Jones & Laughlin 1 
Westinghouse 

Elec. & Mfg. Co. 
Harbison & Walker 
National Tube Co. 

(all plants) 
Pressed Steel Car Co. 
Pgh. Forge & Iron 
Moorhead Brothers 
Am. Steel & Wire 
Clinton Iron & Steel 
Oliver Iron & Steel 
Carbon Steel Co. 
Crucible Steel Co. 
A M. Byers Co. 
Lockhart Steel Co. 
Mesta Machine Co. 
Marshall Foundry Co. 
U. S. Glass Co. 
Thompson-Sterret Co. 
Spang-Chalfant Co. 



000 


1,500 


95% 


30c 


8 to 12 


,500 


400 


100% 


30c 


10 


900 


25 


90% 


28-30c 


10 


250 


50 


80% 


27ic 


10 


250 


100 


100% 


30c 


10 


25 


25 


50% 


23c 


11 


75 





100% 


30c 


10 


200 


200 


75% 


30c 


10 


25 


25 


100% 


28-30C 


10 


25 


25 


75% 






50 





100% 


25-28C 


10 


200 


50 


75% 


30c 


10-12 


400 


150 


90% 


28-33c 


10 


200 





60% 




10 


160 





95% 


27k 


10 


50 





100% 


30c 


10 


15 












No Negroes employed 
No Negroes employed 
No Negroes employed 



8,325 2,550 



From a study of colored employees in twenty of the largest 
industrial plants, in the Pittsburgh district, arbitrarily select- 
ed (Table No. XIII), we find that most of the concerns have 
employed colored labor only since May or June of 1916. Very 

*The figures in this table were secured during the months of July and 
August 1917, and have probably been changed since. 

31 



few of the Pittsburgh industries have used colored labor in 
capacities other than as janitors and window cleaners. A few 
of the plants visited had not begun to employ colored people 
until in the spring of 1917, while a few others had not yet come 
to employ Negroes, either because they believed the Negro 
workers to be inferior and inefficient, or because they feared 
that their white labor force would refuse to work with the 
blacks. The Superintendent of one big steel plant which has 
not employed colored labor during the past few years ad- 
mitted that he faced a decided shortage of labor, and that he 
was in need of men ; but he said he would employ Negroes only 
as a last resort, and that the situation was as yet not sufficiently 
acute to warrant their ernployment. In a big glass plant, the 
company attempted to use Negro labor last winter, but the 
white workers "ran them out" by swearing at them, calling them 
"Nigger" and making conditions so unpleasant for them that 
they were forced to quit. This company has therefore given 
up any further attempts at employing colored labor. It may 
be interesting to note, however, that one young Negro boy 
who pays no attention to such persecution persistently stays 
there. 

About ninety-five percent of the colored workers in the 
steel mills visited in our survey were doing unskilled labor. 
In the bigger plants, where many hundreds of Negroes are era- 
ployed, almost one hundred percent are doing common labor, 
while in the smaller plants, a few might be found doing labor 
which required some skill. The reasons alleged by the manu- 
facturers are ; first, that the migrants are inefficient and un- 
stable, and second, that the opposition to them on the part of 
white labor prohibits their use on skilled jobs. The latter ob- 
jection is illustrated by the case of the white bargemen of a big 
steel company who wanted to walk out because black workers 
were introduced among them, and who were only appeased by 
the provision of separate quarters for the Negroes. While 
there is an undeniable hostility to Negroes on the part of a few 
white workers, the objection is frequently exaggerated by 
prejudiced gang bosses. 

That this idea is often due to the prejudice of the heads 
of departments and other labor employers, was the opinion of a 
sympathetic superintendent of one of the largest steel plants, 
who said that in many instances it was the superintendents and 
managers themselves, who are not alive to their own advantage 
and so oppose the Negro's doing the better classes of work. The 
same superintendent said that he had employed Negroes for 
many years ; that a number of them have been connected with 

82 



his company for several years; that they are just as efficient 
as the white people. More than half of the twenty-five Negroes 
in his plant were doing semi-skilled and even skilled work. He 
had one or two colored foremen over colored gangs, and cited an 
instance of a colored man drawing a hundred and fourteen 
dollars in his last two weeks pay. This claim was supported 
by a very intelligent Negro who was stopped a few blocks away 
from the plant and questioned as to the conditions in the plant. 
While admitting everything that the Superintendent said, and 
stating that there is now absolute free opportunity for colored 
people in that plant, the man claimed that these conditions 
have come into being only within the last year. The same super- 
intendent told of an episode illustrating the amicable relations 
existing in his shop between the white and black workers. He 
I'elated that a gang of workers had come to him with certain 
complaints and the threat of a walk-out. When their griev- 
ances had been satisfactorily adjusted, they pointed to the 
lonely black man in their group and said that they were not 
ready to go back unless their Negro fellow worker was satisfied. 




The Migration dn Process. 

IVom our survey of the situation it must be evident that j 
the southern migrants are not as well established in the Pitts- 
burgh industries as is the white laborer. They are as yet un- 
adapted to the heavy and pace-set labor in our steel mills. Ac- 
customed to the comparatively easy-going plantation and farm 
work of the South, it will take some time until these migrants 

33 



have found themselves. The roar and clangor of our mills make 
these newcomers a little dazed and confused at first. They do not 
stay long in one place, being birds of passage; they are 
continually searching for better wages and accommoda- 
tions. They cannot even be persuaded to wait until pay day, 
and they like to get money in advance, following the habit they 
have acquired from the southern economic system. It is often 
secured on very flimsy pretexts and spent immediately in the 
saloons and similar places. It is admitted, however, by all 
employers of labor, that the Negro who was born in the North 
or has been in the North for some time, although not as sub- 
servient to bad treatment, is as efficient as the white ; that be- 
cause of his knowledge of the language and the ways of this 
country, he is often much better than the foreign laborer who 
understands neither. 

Paradoxical as it may seem, the labor movement in 
America — which it is claimed was begun and organized pri- 
marily to improve the conditions of all workers, and protect 
their interests from the designs of heartless and cruel industrial 
captains — has not only made no eff^ort to relieve and help the 
oppressed black workers who have suff^ered even more than the 
whites from exploitation and serfdom, but in many instances 
have remained indifferent to the economic interests and even 
served as an obstacle to the free development of the colored 
people. 

Since the East St. Louis race riots in July of this year, 
and later on the Chester and other race clashes, the press has 
been full of controversy concerning the colored labor problem 
in the North. Employers as well as many prominent persons 
openly laid the blame for the spilling of the blood of women 
and little children at the" door of the labor unions. On the 
other hand, the labor men almost as a unit have charged the 
responsibility for these riots to the Northern industrial leaders 
who are bringing these laborers to be used as a tool to break 
up the labor movement in the North. 

The motives of the employers who are bringing the colored 
migrants are obviously not altruistic. They are not concerned 
primarily with freeing the Negro from the economic and po-» 
litical restrictions to which he is still subjected in the South. 
It is not to be assumed that their interests extend further than 
the employment of these ignorant people as unskilled laborers. 
Indeed the sheer economic interest of the Northern industrial 
concerns which are bringing the Negro migrants, may be illu- 
strated by the following contract, which is typical of many 

34 



agreements signed by migrants when accepting transportation 
North. 

"It is hereby understood that I am to work for the above 

named Company as .... , , 

the rate of pay to be 

The Railroad agrees to furnish transportation 

and food to destination. I agree to work on any part of the 

Raih'oad where I may be assigned. I further 

agree to reimburse the Railroad for the cost of 

my railroad transportation, in addition to which I agree to pay 

to cover the cost of meals and 

other expenses incidental to my employment. 

I authorize the Company to deduct from my wages money 
to pay for the above expenses. 

In consideration of the Railroad paying my 

carfare, board, and other expenses, I agree to remain in the 
service of the aforesaid Company until such time as I reim- 
burse them for the expenses of my transportation, food, etc. 

It is agreed upon the part of the Railroad Company that 

if I shall remain in the service for one year, the 

Railroad Company agrees to return to me the amount of car- 
fare from point of shipment to 

By continuous service for one year is meant that I shall not 
absent myself from duty any time during the period without 
the consent of my superior officer. 

It is understood by me that the Railroad 

will not grant me free transportation to the point where I wa^ 
employed. 

I am not less than twentj'^-one or more than forty-five 
years of age, and have no venereal disease. If my statement 
in this respect is found to be incorrect this contract becomes 
void." 



Laborer's Name. 

It is apparent that since the war has put a stop to the 
importation of foreign immigrants, the Negroes are so far the 
only cheap and unorganized labor supply obtainable. Indeed 
Mexicans were brought to work here in the same way, although 
the experience with them was not as satisfactory as with the 
blacks. 

While it may be true that the motive for bringing these 
ignorant workers is primarily to fill up the unskilled labor 
gap, and not to break up the labor movement, it is self-evident 
that the employers would scarcely admit the latter motive even 

35 



though it was paramount. It may be, that ultimately the em- 
ploj^ers may use these workers against the union organi- 
zations or against the securing of the eight-hour-day, 
which the local unions are aiming to attain. Indeed, 

the employment agent of one of our great industrial plants, 
which underwent a big strike a few years ago, pointed out that 
one of the great values of the Negro migration lies in the fact 
that it gives him a chance to "mix up his labor forces and to 
establish a balance of power", as the Negro, he claimed, "is 
more individualistic, does not like to group and does not follow 
a leader, as readily as some foreigners do." However, in only 
one instance in our survey of the Pittsburgh Trade Unions, was 
a complaint lodged against colored people taking the places of 
striking white workers. This was in a waiters' strike and was 
won just the same, because the patrons of the restaurants pro- 
tested against the substitution of Negro waiters. In all the 
others, there were no such occurrences. Indeed, the number 
of Negroes taking the places of striking whites and of skilled 
white workers is so small that it is hardly appreciable. They 
are, as we have seen, largely taking the places which were left 
vacant by the unskilled foreign laborers since the beginning 
of the war, and the new places created by the present industrial 
boom, y No effective effort has been made to organize these un- 
skilled laborers by the recognized American labor movement. 
These people, therefore, whose places are now being taken by 
the Negroes, worked under no American standard of labor, and 
the fear of these unskilled laborers breaking down labor stand- 
ards which have never existed, is obviously unfounded. 

The generalization cannot also be made that the colored 
people are difficult to organize, for from our survey we have 
found only one Union, the Waiter's Local, that has made any 
attempt to organize the colored people, and was unsuccessful. 
The official of this Union explains it because the colored waiters 
"are more timid, listen to their bosses, and also have a kind of 
distrust of the white Unions." The same official also 
admitted that while he himself would have no objection to 
working with colored people, the rank and file of his Union 
would not work on the same floor with a colored waiter. None 
of the other Unions made any effort to organize the colored 
workers in their respective trades, and they cannot therefore 
complain of the difficulty of organizing the Negroes. 

In the two trade organizations which admit Negroes to 
membership, the colored man has proved to be as good a union- 
ist as his white fellows. A single local of the Hod Carriers 

36 



Union, a strong labor organization, has over four hundred Ne- 
groes among its six hundred members, and has proved how 
easy it is to organize even the new migrants by enlisting over 
one hundred and fifty southern hod carriers within the past 

year. 

The other Union which admits Negroes — The Hoisting En- - 
gineers' Union, has a number of colored people in its ranks. 
Several of these are charter-members, and a number have been 
connected with the organization for a considerable time. Judg- 
ing from the strength of these Unions — the only ones in the 
city which have a considerable number of blacks amongst them 

the Negroes have proved as good Union men as the whites. 

If the Pittsburgh trade organizations are typical of the pres- 
ent national trade union movement it would appear that there 
is little hope for the Negroes. If the present pohcy of the 
American labor movement continues, the Negroes can depend 
but little upon this great liberating force for their advancement. 
A few facts disclosed in our canvas of the trade unions in 
Pittsburgh will bear out our statements. 




A Row of Dilapidated Old Dwellings in the Downtown Section Used as Room- 
ing Houses for Migrants. 

An official of a very powerful Union which has a mem- 
bership of nearly five thousand said that it had about five 
colored members. He admitted that there are several hundred 
Negroes working in the same trade in this city, but his or- 
ganization does not encourage them to organize and will admit 
one of them only when he can prove his abihty in his work — 
a technical excuse for exclusion. This official was a man who 

37 



was born in the South; he believed in the inferiority of the 
Negro, deplored the absence of a Jim Crow system, and was 
greatly prejudiced. 

Another official of an even more powerful trade union was 
greatly astonished when he learned that there are white people 
who take an interest in the Negro question. He absolutely 
refused to give any information and did not think it was worth 
while to answer such questions, although he admitted that his 
union had no colored people and would never accept them. 
There are, however, several hundred Negroes working at this 
trade in the city. White members related numerous incidents 
of white unionists leaving a job when a colored man appeared. 
Several other unions visited had no Negroes in the union 
although there were some local colored people in their re- 
spective trades. 

The typical attitude of the complacent trade unionist is 
illustrated by a letter which was written by a very prominent 
local labor leader, a member of the "Alliance for Labor and 
Democracy" in answer to certain questions asked him. This 
official refused to state anything orally, and asked that the 
questions be put to him in writing. His answers, we may pre- 
sume, have been carefully worded after considerable contemp- 
lation of the problem. 

The letter begins : "While I do not wish to appear evasive, 
I do not think some of the questions should have been asked me 
at this time." Questions and answers follow: 

Q. Number of white members in the Union? 

A. Our Union has had a growth of one hundred percent 
in the past six months in the Pittsburgh district. 

Q. Number of colored people in the Union? 

A. None. 

Q. Has there been an increase in the colored labor in your 
trade within the last year? If so, state approximately the 
proportion. 

A. Yes, estimates can be made only by the employer, as 
we do not control all shops. 

Q. Plas there been an increase in the colored union mem- 
bership within the last year or two? 

A. Yes, statistics can be gotten from Mr. Frank Mor- 
rison, Secretary, American Federation of Labor, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

Q. What efforts does your Union make to organize the 
colored people in your trade? 

38 



A. Same effort as all others, as the A. F. of L. does not 
bar any worker on account of race or creed. 

Q. Has any colored person applied for membership in 
your Union within the last year? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Have the colored people in your trade asked for a 
separate charter.? 

A. Not that I know of. 

Q. Do you personally know of any complaint by a per- 
son of color against your Union as regards race discrimination ? 

A. Yes. 

The official admits that there are colored workers in his 
trade, that some have applied for membership, and that there 
have been complaints of race discrimination. His statement 
concerning efforts to organize Negro laborers would seem to 
have little meaning in view of his assertion that the growth of 
white membership during the past year was one hundred per- 
cent, while that of Negro membership was zero. 

It may, however, be interesting to note that a man who 
joined this Union about the time this letter was written, said 
the President of the Union gave him the following pledge: 

"I pledge that I will not introduce for membership into 
this Union anyone but a sober, industrious, WHITE person." 

Very often union officials are apt to point to their con- 
stitutions which guarantee that no color line be established, 
and say that the colored people make little effort to organize, 
and that they are really not trying to get Into the Union. 
"Why don't the Negroes organize locals of their own?" they 
ask. The assertion that colored people are making little effort 
to become organized is undoubtedly true, for It may be pre- 
sumed that If they had continuously, Insistently and In sufficient 
numbers knocked at the doors of the trade unions the bar- 
riers would have been unable to withstand the strain and would 
have opened to them. But unfortunately the attitude of the 
trade unions developed among the Negroes a feeling of hope- 
lessness which Is detrimental to both the Negroes and the 
labor movement. "What's the use?" is the reply usually given 
by skilled colored workers when asked why they do not join 
the unions. They know well enough that they will not be ad- 
mitted, and that even If they were accepted they could never 
hope to secure a job from the Union. This spirit goes even 
further, and Is fraught with the most Imminent danger. 
A very intelligent colored labor official said, that there is de- 
veloping among many Negroes the feeling that the most laud- 

39 



able action is to do anything which will harm or break the labor 
movement. 

That this fatalistic and dangerous attitude of the colored 
people is not groundless is again evidenced from our study 
of the situation. The attempt of union officials to becloud or 
to ignore the issue by saying that the colored people make no 
effort to become Union members, and do not try to organize 
their own locals is disclosed by the following case : 




A Row of Model Houses Originally Built by a Steel Company for its Colored 

Workers, but used by Foreign Laborers at Present Because of 

the Protest of the People in the Neighborhood. 

On January 1st, 1917, a group of about thirty unorganiz- 
ed Negro plasterers sent the following letter to the Operative 
Plasterer's and Cement Finishers' International Association of 
the United States with offices at Middletown, Ohio. 

Pittsburgh, Pa., January 1st, 1917. 
"We, the undersigned Colored Plasterers of the City of 
Pittsburgh, met in a session on the above named date, and after 
forming an Organization for our mutual benefit voted to petition 
to you our grievances on the grounds of being discriminated 
against because of our color. We therefore would like to have 
a Local Body of our own for our people. We also voted to 
ask you for the advice and consideration of such a movement, 
and hereby petition you that you grant us a license for a 
local of our own, to be operated under your jurisdiction, pray- 
ing this will meet with your approA^al, and hoping to get an 
early reply. 

40 



This will show that to date we have the support of the 
men here listed besides a few more. Officers elected so far are 
as follows:" 

The signatures of the officers and twenty-five members 
follow. 

The International then sent the following reply: 
"Replying to your letter, we are writing our Pittsburgh 
Local today in reference to your appHcation for charter. Ac- 
cordmg to the rules and regulations of our organization, no 
organization can be chartered in any city where we have a 
Local without consulting the older Organization." 

This was signed by the Secretary of the International 
Association. 

The Pittsburgh Local then invited the Secretary of the 
colored organization to appear at their regular meeting. When 
the Secretary came, they told him he could have five minutes 
time m which to present his claims. Nothing resulted from this 
meeting and no written statement whatsoever was made by the 
Pittsburgh Local in spite of attempts to secure such. 

On a further appeal to the International, the Secretary 
of the Colored Plasterer's Organization received the following 
letter from the International Secretary. 

"Replying to your letter, I enclose a copy of our con 
stitution and refer you to section No. 34, page No. 8, which 
means that no charter can be issued to your organization un- 
less approved by No. 31 of Pittsburgh, Pa." 

An official of Local number 31 admitted that the rank and 
file would never consent to have colored people among them, 
and attend the social functions given by the Union, although he 
claimed they could not possibly reject a man because of his 
color, as it is a gross violation of their constitution. He ex- 
plained the reasons for his local refusing a separate charter to 
the Negroes as follows: First, that if a charter would be 
granted to them, they would all become members for the nomi- 
nal charter fee while their initiation fee for individuals amounts 
to thirty dollars, and this he said would be a discrimination 
in favor of the Negroes. But the greatest objection was that 
the colored plasterers asked for a smaller scale of wages, 
($4.50 a day as compared with $6 for whites). When ques- 
tioned as to his reason why the colored people would not pre- 
fer a higher wage, he explained that they could not get work 
as no one would employ a person of color at the same wages 
as a white person.* 

+V, *Jl^^ ^^^V V^-f-} J^t^^^^^^ ^°^^' Negroes to the trade unions would flood 
the city with skilled Southern Negroes, was given as a reason by one Negro 
for the exclusion of his race-men from the unions, but was not mentioned 
by any of the white union officials. 

41 



The Secretary of the short-Hved colored organization gave 
as his reason for not joining the Union as an individual the fact 
that he was aware that the Union, even were he a member, would 
not supply him with a job, and that white Union men would 
walk out were he by any chance to be employed. 

Another illustration of the difficulty confronting the col- 
ored person when he desires to join a Union, is the following: 
Two colored migrants, J. D. and C. S., painters from Georgia, 
had applied to the Union for membership in November and 
December 1916, respectively. Both of these persons have their 
families here, and claim fourteen and sixteen years' experience 
in the trade, stating also that they can do as good a job as any 
other union man. Each one of these claims to have made from 
$25 to $30 a week in the South by contracting. The official 
in the office of the Union whom they approached to ask for mem- 
bership unceremoniously told them that it would take no col- 
ored men into membership. The result was that one of these 
men was fortunate enough to find work in his own line in a 
non-union shop, receiving twenty dollars per week for eight 
and one-half hours, as compared with $5.50 for an eight hour 
day, the union scale. The second man, however, was not so 
fortunate, and unable to find work in his own line, he is now 
working as a common laborer in a steel plant making $2.70 
for ten hours per day. That many of the colored skilled people 
do not attempt to join the union because they know the ex- 
isting situation is obvious. The brother-in-law of one of the 
above men, also a skilled worker, when asked why he did not 
try to join the Union, characteristically shrugged his shoulders 
and uttered the fatalistic "What's the use?" 

The following case which throws light on the general 
situation, and illustrates the resultant effects of this injustice 
was related by the head clerk of the State Employment Bureau 
of this city. 

"In the month of June, 1917, a man giving the name of 
P. Bobonis, a Porto Rican, came to our office and asked for work 
as a carpenter. Mr. Bobonis was a union carpenter, a 
member of the Colorado State Union. The first place he was 
sent they told him they were filled up, and when a call was 
made to determine if the company had sufficient carpenters, the 
foreman said tliat it was impossible for them to employ a col- 
ored carpenter as all of the white men would walk out, but 
that they were still badly in need of carpenters. It was then 
decided to call upon the different companies recognizing the un- 
ion, to see if they all felt the same way. Much to our amazement 

42 



we found It to be the general rule— the colored man could pay 
his initiation fee and dues in the Union, but after that was 
done he was left little hopes for employment. ) Four larcre com- 
panies were called for this man and he could not be ^'placed 
As a last attempt, a call on the Dravo Contracting Company 
was made and as they have some union and others non-union 
men, they employed the man. 

Mr. Bobonis was not a floater, but a good man. He is 
a graduate of Oberhn College and is now working to raise 
enough money to enable him to study medicine." 

Although the attitude of the recognized American Labor 
movement on the colored question is generally known, the great 
mass of people are easily misled and appealed to on race lines. 
It is unfortunate that often a race issue is made of a purely 
labor question. An episode of the past winter is a case in 
point. The drivers in one of our department stores had or- 
ganized themselves into a union and were locked out. The 
department store immediately substituted colored non-union 
drivers. Appeals to union people based on race issues were 
then carried to the patrons of that store until the depart- 
ment store was forced to discharge all of its colored drivers 
and re-instate the white ones. This was done in spite of the 
fact that the Union was not recognized, and was broken up, 
and although the manager of the store is said to have ad- 
mitted that almost half of the colored drivers had proved one 
hundred percent efficient. 

The difficulties and slow progress made in organizing the 
laboring classes generally is apparent to anyone who reflects 
that m spite of the long years of continued eff'ort, and in spite of 
the fact that in many instances there was no resistance 
from the employers, hardly ten percent of the working popu- 
lation of the United States is organized in trade and industrial 
unions today. The problem is difficult for the white men, and 
it IS exceedingly more difficult for the blacks. The white labor- 
ing classes have to contend only with the manufacturers. The 
Negroes, however, have to contend with the white trade unions 
as well as with the employers. 

Until recently, very few colored people in the North were 
w^orking in trades where the whites were organized. The great 
mass of Negroes were doing work of the personal service char- 
acter, and acted as porters, janitors, elevator men, etc. This 
class of workers is extremely difficult to organize even among the 
whites. Within the past two years, however, Negroes have in 
increasing numbers entered the trades which have been or- 

43 



ganized by the whites. Being refused admission to most of the 
white unions the only thing the colored man can do is to form his 
own organization. The first step toward organizing the Negro 
working man and woman was taken in New York City in July 
1917, when the Associated Colored Employees of America was or- 
ganized. The bulletin used by this organization states that its 
purpose is to give "facts concerning conditions in the North 
compiled for the benefit of those who some day expect or de- 
sire to be actually free." This organization aims to function 
as an employment bureau advising members where particular 
work may be found, and to give general information to those 
workers who are eager to come from the South. 




Rear View of Tenement Near Soho Dump. Note Refuse on Left and Street 

Level on Right. 

The difficulty in organizing the colored people into a 
separate organization along Trade Union Lines was thus ex- 
plained by a very prominent Negro leader. The Negro, he 
said, is escaping from the tyranny of the South to the freedom 
of the North. In the North he is opposed and at times even 
mobbed by white laboring men. Strange as it may seem, the 
industrial captain in the North is the Negro's only friend. 
He at least is interested in him ; he goes after him to bring 
him North, provides food and shelter for him, pays him better 
wages than he received in the South, and in many instances 
gives him medical attention, and helps him bring his family 

44 



here. Can you expect him under the circumstances to alienate 
and betray his only friend in the North, for the trade unions 
whom he fears and distrusts? 

It is obvious that the trade unions will have to make 
a more attractive appeal to convince the Negro that they are 
really his best friends. Their duty and policy are clear. 
Theirs is a struggle for the protection of the working people, 
in order to secure for all the oppressed some of the enjoyments 
of life. Theirs is a continuous battle for organization, the or- 
ganization of all workers, irrespective of race, color and creed. 

The Negro's own problem and his tragedy in slavery and 
in freedom is probably best summarized in the following lines 
taken from the Emporia Gazette and written by William Allen 
White : 

"If the black man loafs in the South he starves. If he 
works in the South he is poorly paid, more or less in kind — chips 
and whetstones — and his wife becomes a 'pan-toter.' If he 
leaves his own estate in the South and goes to work in Northern 
industry, he is mobbed and killed." 

"He was brought to these shores from Africa a captive. 
He is held by his captors in economic bondage today — for- 
bidden to rise above the lowest serving class. He is herded 
by himself in a ghetto, and if, while he is there, he reverts to 
the jungle type, he is burned alive. If he tries to break out of 
his ghetto, and, by assimilating the white man's civilization, 
rise, he is driven out by his white brothers." 

"If he goes to school, he becomes discontented and is un- 
happy and dissatisfied with his social status. If he does not 
go to school and remains ignorant, he is then only a 'coon,' 
whom everybody exploits, and who has to cheat and swindle in 
return, or go down in poverty to begging and shame. There 
aren't ships enough in the world to take him back to the land 
of his freedom ; there isn't enough for him here except on the 
crowded bottom rung of the ladder, and there, always, the 
grinding heel of those climbing over him topward is mangling 
his black hands." 

"Race riots, lynchings, political ostracism, social boycott, 
economic serfdom. No wonder he sings : 

"Hard Trials— 

"Great tribulations, 

"Hard trials — 

"I'm gwine for to live with the Lord !" 

No wonder as he looks dismally back at the forest whence 
he came, and dismally forward to the hopeless set to which he is 

45 



slowly being pushed, he lifts his plaintive voice in its heart- 
broken minor and wails: 

"Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home !" 
"Home" is about the only place he can go, where they 
don't oppress him." 

THE COMMUNITY'S PROBLEM 

CHAPTER III 

A Delinquency Study of the Negro vn Pittsburgh 
An understanding of the conduct and morality of the new 
comer and stranger is essential both for the migrant himself 
and for the community upon which he is thrust. The migrant 
is unknown to us. We look upon the stranger with suspicion 
and upon all his habits and customs as queer and out of the 
ordinary. It is therefore natural for us to question his mor- 
ality and character and to consider him the cause of the crimes 
and vices of the community. In the past, we blamed the Ital- 
ians, the Slavs, the Jews and the other foreign groups as being 
mainly responsible for many of the anti-social acts in our 
urban society; but when we come to know them our attitude 
changes. 

The Negro, although with us for centuries, is still un- 
intelligible to the average northern community. This has been 
borne out by our present survey in the Pittsburgh district. Al- 
though in many instances the Negroes live near the whites, even 
among them, there is very little understanding or communica- 
tion between the two races, and mutual prejudice and sus- 
picion prevail. 

With the cessation of the white immigration incident to 
the war and the influx of thousands of Negroes from the South 
the black has become the stranger in town. We see him crowd- 
ing in certain districts, congregating on street corners, ap- 
parently amazed at his sudden transference from country to city 
life; from his home, a familiar though oppressive environment, 
into the glare and lure of the great industrial city with its 
apparent freedom for all. The Negro looks with wonder upon 
all this, and his reaction to it seems suspicious to the whites. 
When they see the police patrol wagon frequently in the colored 
district or when some crime is committed in that neighborhood 
it is not unnatural for them to think that these strangers are 
responsible for all crime and vice. This, unfortunately, is not 
only the attitude of the average person unfamiliar with con- 
ditions, but is also the theory upon which the police officials 

46 



seem to proceed in their work. On one occasion when a murder 
was committed in the "Hill" district the police made whole- 
sale arrests of the Negroes, only to free them in a few days, 
having no evidence against them. 

This assumption of the Negro's responsibiHty for a "wave 
of crime, rape and murder" this year was held not only by per- 
sons who got their information from a played-up case in the 
newspapers, but also by many social workers and Negroes 
themselves, as was evidenced by their expressed personal opin- 
ions. A colored probation officer, for instance, asserted that 
the juvenile delinquency among her people had at least doubled 
during the last year, and she was greatly surprised when an 
examination of the records disclosed a very considerable de- 
crease in these cases, (Table No. XIX). This illustrates how 
erroneous our impressions about strange groups in our communi- 
ties may be, and how essential are the facts to a clear under- 
standing of the situation. 




Wednesday 3:30 P. M. Lower WyLie Avenue. 

In order to ascertain the facts concerning the extent of 
Negro crime in the Pittsburgh district, an analysis was made of 
the police court records of seven months in the year 1914-1915 
in comparison with the same period of 1916-1917. The periods 
selected were December 1, 1914 to June 30, 1915 and December 
1, 1916 to June 30, 1917. The first period embraces the time 
of the initial war prosperity before the migration had begun. 
In the second period the Negro migration was at its highest 
point. The poHce dockets of Station Number 1, the Central 
Station, and Station Number 2 — which is in the most densely 
populated Negro section of the city — were carefully canvassed 
and compared as to number of arrests, kind of charges, dis- 
position of cases and age, sex, etc., of the accused. Tables 
follow : 

47 



TABLE NUMBER XV 

Showing Total Ntmiber of Charges of Arrested Negroes Brought 
to Stations No. 1 and No. 2 from December 1, 1914 to 
June 30, 1915 and December 1, 1916 to June 30, 1917, and 
also the percentage of Increase during the last Period. 



CHARGES 


1914-1915 


T916-1917 


% of Inc. 


Male Female Total 


Male 


Female 


Total 


1917 



1 



PETTY OFFENCES 

Suspicious Persons 390 
Disorderly Conduct 353 
Drunkenness 240 

Keeping Disorderly 

Houses 16 

Visiting Disorderly 

Houses 92 

Common Prostitute 
Violating City 

Ordinances 85 

Keeping Gambling 

Houses 5 

Visiting Gambling 

Houses 31 

Vagrancy 75 

Other non-Court 

Charges 83 



77 467 668 
74 427 493 
42 282 869 



111 779 67 

106 599 41 

40 909 



38 36 55 91 140 



29 121 217 

58 58 



85 143 
5 



31 

84 




93 



83 37 



76 293 142 

54 54 —7 

143 68 





93 11 

37 



TOTAL 1370 


311 


1681 


2556 


442 


2998 


MAJOR OFFENCES 












Larceny 20 


1 


21 


20 


3 


23 


Assault & Battery 12 





12 


13 





13 


Highway Robbery 3 





3 


4 





4 


Entering Buildings 20 





20 


7 





7 


Felonious Cutting & 












Felonious Shooting 7 


1 


8 


17 


2 


19 


Murder turned over 












to Coroner 12 





12 


5 


1 


6 


Assault and Battery 












with attempt to 












Commit Rape 5 





5 


3 





3 


Concealed Weapons & 












Point. Firearms 2 


1 


3 


12 





12 


Other Court Charges 9 





9 


6 


1 


7 



TOTAL 
GRAND TOTAL 



90 3 93 87 7 94 
1460 314 1774 2643 449 3092 
48 



The foregoing tables and figures reveal many features 
which are extremely interesting. The first thing that strikes 
us is the disproportionate increase in petty arrests over the 
increase in court charges or graver crimes. From the figures 
obtained it appears that although the number of arrests on 
charges of suspicion, drunkenness, disorderly conduct and simi- 
lar petty charges have increased from approximately forty 
percent to over two hundred percent; the graver crimes, 
as a whole, have remained stable in spite of the increase 
in population, while in some of the crimes which are 
usually accredited to Negroes, we find a marked decline. The 
percentage of grave charges compared to the total number of 
arrests, has decreased from 5% in 1914-15 to 3% in 1916-17. 
Thus, we find only two more larcenies in 1916-17 than in 1914- 
15; a considerable decline in charges for entering buildings 
and two charges less of rape. 

TABLE NUMBER XVI 

Showing the disposition of the Negroes Arrested and Brought 
to Police Stations Number 1 and Number 2 from Decem- 
ber 1, 1914 to June 30, 1915 and December 1, 1916 to 
June 30, 1917; the percentage of the total arrests and the 
percentage of increase or decrease during the latter period. 

%of 
dec. 



DISPOSITION 



1914-15 
Total No. 



1916-17 
Total No. 



Percentage of Total Arrests % of j 
1914-15 1916-17 inc 



Discharged 849 

Held for Court 93 

Fines 308 

Jail 230 

Workhouse 179 

Otherwise disposed 114 



1773 



1716 

94 

532 

369 

334 

47 

3092 



48 
5 
17 
13 
10 
7 



55 
3 
17 
12 
11 
2 



102 


73 
60 

87 



100 100 



Of the three thousand ninety-two arrests during 1916- 
1917, one thousand seven hundred and sixteen were discharged 
without fines, again demonsrating the petty character or the 
lack of evidence on these charges. 

It is not difficult to find an explanation for the tremen- 
dous increase in arrests on charges of suspicion, disorderly 
conduct and the like. The colored migrant, timid, friendless 
and unknown as he is when he comes from the South, easily be- 
comes an object of surveillance. The railroads were bringing 
a train load of black workers practically every day. Many 
come to Pittsburgh with the desire to remain here, but the 



49 



labor agents want them to go further east. Workers of this 
class either try to get away from the labor agent, or, being 
separated from him in' the general confusion prevailing at the 
stations, are stranded and left without resources. As strangers 
they know nothing about the city or its ways. They are but 
lately come out from communities where they have known only 
oppression, and in many cases their exodus has been a secret 
one. It is not remarkable that men in their state of mind should 
be looked upon by the police as questionable characters and 
arrested on the charges of being suspicious persons, or should 
fall into the hands of the law for various other reasons. 

The marked increase in drunkenness is not surprising either. 
From an analysis of the housing and lodging situation in 
Pittsburgh the reader will realize that these migrants have no 
place in which to spend their leisure time except the street 
corners and in the saloon. In practically all rooming houses 
beds are run on a double shift basis. A man may stay in his 
room only when he sleeps. On awakening he must surrender 
his bed to another lodger and go elsewhere. There are no 
recreational facilities provided him by the city. Only one place, 
the saloon, welcomes him with open doors, and even this danger- 
ous hospitality is denied him except in the Negro quarters. That 
the stranger should not embrace the only means of relaxation 
offered him in his new environment would be incredible. 



TABLE NUMBER XVII 

Showing the age and sex of the persons Arrested in the two 
Stations from December 1, 1914 to June 30, 1915 and from 
December 1, 1916 to June 30, 1917. 





Total No. 

1914-15 

Male Female 


Total 
1916-17 
Male Female 


Total 
1914-15 1916-17 


Under 16 


40 


8 


21 


7 


48 


28 


16 to 20 


69 


31 


112 


18 


100 


130 


20 to 30 


556 


195 


1133 


237 


751 


1370 


30 to 40 


398 


109 


797 


96 


507 


893 


40 to 50 


232 


18 


432 


35 


250 


467 


50 and over 


107 


11 


192 


12 


118 


204 



1402 372 2687 405 1774 3092 



50 



TABLE NUMBER XVIII 



Showing the Number of Married and Single People Arrested; 
Also Showing the Sex. 



Total No. 

1914-15 

Male Female 



Total No. 

1916-17 

Male Female 



TOTAL 
1914-15 1916-17 



Single lOS-i 194 2269 256 1218 2525 

Married 395 161 428 139 556 567 



1419 



355 



2697 



395 



1774 



3092 



That there should be a big increase in the visitation of 
disorderly houses is to be expected. As we have seen, the mi- 
gration is as yet largely that of single men and of men who 
have left their families behind them. As with the other for- 
eign groups who have migrated to America, there is an entire 
break up of the normal family standard. It is therefore in- 
evitable that with higher wages and with the prevailing housing 
and rooming congestion vice should flourish. The fact that in 
spite of the tremendous increase in disorderly houses there is 
some decline in arrests on charges of prostitution can be inter- 
preted only in terms of the laxity and tolerance of the police 
department. This also accounts for the fact that while during 
the seven months of 1914-1915 five gambling houses were raid- 
ed and thirty-one persons were arrested for gambling, there 
were no raids or arrests during the same period this year. 

The big increase in arrests on charges of felonious cut- 
ting, pointing firearms, and carrying concealed weapons, may 
be explained in a variety of ways. Since the post bellum days, 
the carrying and handling of arms in the South was sanctioned 
socially. The whites have carried, and in some places are still 
carrying these weapons with them. The Negro, whether be- 
cause of his habit of imitating the whites or because he has 
learned the lesson of protecting and defending himself, has also 
acquired the habit of carrying weapons. Being too poor or too 
timid in the South to purchase a revolver or similar dangerous 
weapon, he had to contend himself with a knife or a razor. 

Immediately upon the Negro's arrival in Pittsburgh, and 
as soon as he gets off the train, his attention is called to these 
means of defense which are profusely displayed in the show 
windows of second hand stores near the stations. These arms 
are tempting to his primitive instinct of display, and being un- 
familiar with conditions in this city — still thinking in terms of 

51 



the Southern environment — he considers these things a necessity. 
As they can be obtained easily, he manages to purchase one of 
these weapons at the first opportunity. That the lynchings, 
riots and mistreatments should not teach him a lesson of self- 
defense and the need for such weapons would be incredible. It 
may also be added that the Southern Negro does not consider 
cutting another Negro an offense against the law. Such cut- 
ting was frequently practiced in the South and arrest did not 
follow. It may therefore not be strange to learn that on several 
occasions, when arraigned on charges of felonious cutting, 
these migrants expressed great surprise when they learned that 
their offense involved a jail or workhouse sentence. 

TABLE NUMBER XIX 

Total Xumber of Negro Charges in the Juevnile Court from' 

January 1st, 1915 to June 30, 1915 and Jamiary 

\st, 1917 to June 30, 1917. 



CHARGES 


Total No. 


Total No, 




1915 


1917 


Incorrigibility 

Delinquency 

Dependent and Neglected 

Entering a Building 


11 

34 

18 
4 


10 

13 

23 

1 


Larceny 

Violating Parole 
Malicious Mischief 


5 

1 
2 


8 

1 


Assault and Battery 
All other Charges 


5 
3 


1 
3 




83 


60 


TABLE NUMBER XX 




Dispositions 


of Same. 




Returned to Parents 


3 


4 


Detention Home 


1 





Private Home 


30 


15 


Home on Probation 


22 


16 


Thorn Hill Industrial School 


15 


12 


State Reformatory 

Polk School for Feeble Minded 


4 
1 


2 
6 


Other Places 


- 7 


6 



83 



60 



52 



Table number XVII indicates that the majority of those ar- 
rested are between the ages of 20 and 40. The large number 
of women arrested is rather surprising, although the propor- 
tional increase of women arrested is far below that of men. This 
may be due to the fact that the migration is largely of men with- 
out families. The overwhelming number of single people as 
compared with married ones, is also to be expected, although 
the police record based only upon uninvestigated statements of 
prisoners, may not be very authentic. 




A House in the Hill District Credited with Sheltering- Over 200 Negroes. 

The examination of police court dockets reveals one or two 
other significant features. It shows the continuance of the mi- 
gration by the fact that a great number are listed as having 
"no homes." The number giving such "address" this year is 
far greater than during the previous period ; even when the 
total of those who refuse to give correct addresses is subtracted, 
the increase is still clearly shown. In the records of those who 
give their addresses as of this city, it is important to note the 
close relation of congestion and bad housing conditions to the 
police court records. Throughout the docket, a few houses 
notorious for their overcrowding stand out very prominently. 
Thus, a well known tenement house on Bedford Avenue, which 
is <--redited with having over one hundred families inside its foui" 
walls, has given eighty-four arrests during the seven months of 
1914i-1915, and over one hundred during the seven months of 
1917. The same thing is true of several other houses. 

53 



Table number XIX showing the Juvenile Court records is 
surprising. That there should still be an absolute decline in 
juvenile delinquency, in spite of the increase in population, is 
something the most optomistic of us would have hardly antici- 
pated. 

After the proceeding analysis, the reader has doubtless al- 
ready realized how unfounded was the popular belief in a Negro 
"wave of crime, rape and murder" in Pittsburgh within the last 
year. The facts are self-evident. From our analysis, we must 
conclude that the Negro migrant is not a vicious character ; is 
not criminally and mischievously inclined per se, but on the 
other hand is a peaceful and law abiding individual. He comes 
to Pittsburgh to seek better economic and social opportunities. 
He is in most instances anxious to let others alone in order 
that he himself may be let alone. 

That the rise in wages is a considerable factor in the de- 
crease of juvenile delinquency and graver crimes as a whole 
is probable. That the Negro becomes a victim of the saloon 
and the vice elements is evidently more the fault of the com- 
munity than of himself. He is often anxious to rid himself of 
these associations, but it can be done only by his white brother's 
realization of the social responsibility which he owes to the 
community. 

HEALTH STUDY 

That the conservation of health is no longer the concern 
of the individual affected alone, but is the problem of the whole 
community is now generally recognized. The relation of 

cause and effect in our complex urban life is nowhere more clear- 
ly shown than in the health phase of our group relations. In 
this aspect of community life at least, it is realized that each 
of us constitutes one of the cogs in the civic machinery, and 
that the welfare of the whole depends upon the welfare of the 
individual. No one in the city, even if he be living under the 
best conditions can be certain of immunity from the menace of 
epidemic or of venereal diseases and tuberculosis. Infantile 
paralysis, and the other contagious or infectious diseases have 
no recfard for differences of social status or residential re- 
spectability. 

The Negroes of Pittsburgh constitute a very considerable 
fraction of the city population. We have only partially se- 
gregated districts, and the Negroes live near us or in our 
midst. They are with us on the streets, in street cars, stores 
and amusement places. They work side by side with us in the 

64 



mills, factories and offices. Their children and ours attend the 
same schools, drink from the same fountains and play in the 
same yards. Since the beginning of the European War, our 
foreign supply of domestic servants has been practically cut 
off, and the colored women are the only ones available for this 
type of work. These women live in our homes, wash our 
clothes, cook our dinners, make our beds and nurse our chil- 
dren. A close inter-relation between the two races exists, and 
we cannot long hope to be free from the diseases to which our 
servants are subject. Once it is realized that our own welfare 
is greatly affected by the welfare of the Negro, it is obvious 
that we must see to it that his health is conserved. Our old 
ostrich-like policy of comfortable neglect will not serve to 
protect us. 




INTERIOR COURT SCENE 

Note Hydrant on Left and Privy on Right which are used by Twelve Families, 

White and Negro. 

We cannot remain indifferent to the startling adult and 
infant mortality rates among Negroes. Ignorance of and in- 
difference to disease in any one group will ultimately work 
harm to the entire population, and neglected disease in the black 
race means the increase of disease among the whites. It is 
essential, therefore, for our own well being that we look into 
the conditions under which our Negro brethren live; and as- 
certain all the facts which may throw some light upon the 
actual conditions existing. Hence, we have proceeded to 
analyze the records which could be obtained in our city health 

55 



department, the records of a few of the larger hospitals in the 
city, and the records of the coroner's office. The tables and 
discussion of the same follow. 

It is unfortunate that the statistical bureau of our Health 
Department — whether through insufficient appropriations or 
otherwise — does not maintain the standards set by similar de- 
partments in other cities. Our department does not afford the 
information necessary for a complete study of the health sit- 
uation. However, from the figures obtained, it is obvious that 
our Negro mortality rate and especially the infant mortality 
rate is much higher than that of New York City, for instance, 
and that we are facing a grave situation. 

TABLE NUMBER XXI 

Causes of the Negro Mortality Comparing Periods of Seven 

Months, January to July, 1915 and January 

to July, 1917. 



CAUSES 


1915 


1917 


Pneumonia (all forms) 


64 


183 


Tuberculosis (all forms) 


51 


51 


Bright's Disease and Nephritis 


21 


23 


Apoplexy 


9 


20 


Meningitis 


1 


17 


Sj'philis 


12 


6 


Heart Disease 


23 


45 


Diabetes 


4 


5 


Cancer (all forms) 


9 


8 


Bronchitis (all forms) 


4 


9 


Scarlet Fever 


2 


1 


Whooping Cough 


1 


1 


Diphtheria 


1 


2 


T3^phoid Fever 


2 


5 


Measles 


3 





Poleomelitis 





2 


Peritonitis 





5 


Rickets 


5 


1 


Puerperal Septicaemia 


1 


4 


Uremia 





4 


Asphyxia 





6 


Cirrhosis of Liver 


2 





Accidents 


12 


16 


Homicide 


8 


3 


All other causes 


60 


110 



295 527 

56 



From a glance at the Negro mortality figures in Pitts- 
burgh during the first seven months of 1917, (Table No. XXI), 
we observe the startling total of five hundred and twenty-seven 
deaths (excluding still births) as compared with two hundred 
and ninety-five deaths in 1915 during the anti-migration per- 
iod, an increase of seventy-eight percent. While it is true that 
the Negro population has increased according to our estimate 
about forty-five percent during the past two years, this ex- 
pansion in nowise explains the disquieting increase in mor- 
tality. An examination of the table also reveals the character 
of this increase. Pneumonia cases have increased nearly two 
hundred percent; we also had a marked increase in acute 
bronchitis and meningitis, and almost twice as many deaths from 
heart disease. 

It is often claimed that the Negro is affected by climatic 
changes. Transferred suddenly into a northern climate, and 
compelled to live in all sorts of dwellings, often with no venti- 
lation and light and in congested quarters, he may easily suc- 
cumb to disease. Unaccustomed as he is to the heavy labor 
and pace-setting of the Pittsburgh industries, it can readily be 
seen how rapidly his health is undermined through excessive 
and hard labor. The fact that there has been no increase in 
tuberculosis is in accord with the expressed opinion of many 
colored physicians interviewed, who claimed that this disease is 
mainly a city product, and that the new-comers, especially 
those coming from isolated southern districts, are apt to be 
relatively free from this disease for a considerable period after 
their arrival in Pittsburgh. 

TABLE NUMBER XXII 

Record of Negro Morbidity for a Period of Six Months Before 
the Migration, as Compared with an Equal Period 
during the Migration in the West Penn 
Mercy and St. Francis Hospitals. 
Causes 1915 1917 

Digestive System 24 29 

Respiratory and Throat 54 76 

Heart and Kidney 16 10 

Brain and Nervous System 9 5 

Urogenital Diseases 35 44 



138 164 

Table number XXII was ascertained from a study of the 
records of three of the largest hospitals in Pittsburgh, as to the 

57 



treatment of Negro patients in these Institutions for a per- 
iod of six months before the migration and an equal period dur- 
ing the migration. Although this table proved interesting, 
as showing the amount, kind and extent of the hos- 
pital morbidity among the colored people, it is not 
at all conclusive. That the hospital records give no 
clue to the sickness among the Negroes is apparent 
from the following: Eighty to ninety percent of the hospital 
cases examined were ward patients. Very few Negroes can 
afford private rooms, and almost every colored physician com- 
plained of the difficulty he had in securing places for his 
patients. It is only fair to state however, that one of the 
largest hospitals in the city, had no such charge lodged against 
it. 

Aside from possible difficulty in securing beds in the hospit- 
als, there is another cause for the scanty number of Negro hos- 
pital cases. The Negro not only because of his ignorance, but 
perhaps even more because of his inclinations to voodooism and 
superstition, feels an aversion to the hospital, where he thinks 
the knife and the "black bottle" are frequently used. He is still 
childlike in many ways, and will prefer all sorts of patent medi- 
cines and quack doctors rather than expose himself to the 
surgeon's knife in a hospital; and chooses to stay at home 
among his own people where he may "die in peace." 

TABLE NUMBER XXIII 

Comparative Record of the Births and Deaths of Negroes and 

the Entire City Population, during the Year of 1915 

and the First Seven Months of 1917. 

NEGRO ENTIRE CITY 

1915 1915 

BIRTHS HlHii^Hi 565 BIRTHS ^l^HB^^^^Bm^^^^lH^ 16,139 

DEATHS ■■■^^H DEATHS I^H^^^HIB^H 8,722 

FIRST SEVEN MONTHS 1917 FIRST SEVEN MONTHS 1917 

BIRTHS BH^H BIRTHS i^H^^^l^a^^^lH 11,013 

DEATHS i^^B^i^ 527 DEATHS I^H^^HHH^H 7,657 

There is no more striking phase of the local Negro prob- 
lem, than that shown in table number XXIII. These figures dis- 
close the astonishing fact that the death rate among Negroes 
in this city during the first seven months of 1917, was forty- 
eight percent greater than the birth rate. In other words, 
while in the city population as a whole, the number of deaths 
was thirty percent less than the number of births, the num- 



ber of deaths among colored people was forty-eight percent 
more than the number of births; thus, for every one hundred 
persons born in Pittsburgh in 1917, there were seventy deaths, 
while among the colored population, for every one hundred 
children born, one hundred and forty-eight persons died. 

These figures seem of sinister significance to the Negro 
race. Even when taking into consideration the facts that the 
migration is largely that of single males, rather than that of 
tamihes, and that because most of the women here are doine 
some work outside the home there is a definite pohcy of limit- 
mg their birth rate, there still remains the fact that even dur- 
mg the entire year of 1915, while the birth rate of the entire 
city population was practically twice the death rate, the ex- 
cess number of births over deaths among colored people was 
only twenty-nine m a total of over five hundred. 

TABLE NUMBER XXIV 

Ages of Persons who Died Within the First Seven 
Months of 1917. 

Under 1 year 87 

Under 5 years 43 

From 5 to 12 Ig 

From 12 to 20 24 

From 20 to 30 69 

From 30 to 40 101 

From 40 to 60 138 

Over 60 49 



TOTAL 



527 



TABLE NUMBER XXV 



Causes of Deaths of Children Under 5 

Burns 

Malnutrition 

Syphilis 

Tuberculosis Meningitis 

Pneumonia 

Tuberculosis 

Enteritis 

Premature 

Meningitis 

Bronchitis 



1 
4 
4 
3 

51 
5 

21 

9 
o 



Years of Age 

Influenza 

Asphyxia 

Hemorrhage 

Convulsions 

Diphtheria 

Rickets 

Heart Disease 

Mumps 

Poliomelitis 



TOTAL 



59 



180 



That the infant mortality rate among colored people is 
much higher than among the white groups, is generally be- 
lieved and it is not surprising to find that the mortality among 
Negro infants in Pittsburgh is much greater than the infant 
mortality rate for the entire city. Figures for the year 1916-17 
were unobtainable. The records of the Department of Health 
show that during the year 1915 one hundred and four chil- 
dren per thousand born in Pittsburgh, died in their first year. 

There were three hundred and fifty-six Negro births in 
the first seven months of 1917. During the same period eighty- 
seven Negro children died under one year. Of this number fifty- 
nine had been born between January and July 1917, which 
means that one hundred and sixty-six children per thousand 
die in their first seven months. This clearly indicates that the 
death rate of Negro infants is far above the death rate of white 
infants. Table No. XXV also shows the cause of deaths of 
children under five years of age who died within the last seven 
months. At least half of these deaths were due to preventable 
disorders, as is apparent from the figures in the same table. 



TABLE NUMBER XXVI 

Colored Bodies Received and Disposed of in Morgue, First Six 

Months During 1915 as Compared with First Six 

Months During 1917. 





1915 


1917 


TOTAL 


Identified and Claimed 


13 


32 


45 


Identified and Cremated 


5 


13 


18 


Unknown and Cremated 


1 


2 


3 



19 47 m 

The figures obtained from the Coroner's Office also indicate 
an abnormal increase in the number of colored bodies received 
and disposed of by the County Morgue. There were more than 
twice as many morgue cases within the first six months of 1917 
as during the same period of 1915. That the majority of 
these bodies were claimed and not disposed of at public ex- 
pense, is doubtless due to the high wages paid this year. High 
wages at least provide for burials, which are considered of para- 
mount importance by the Negroes, because of their primitive 

60 



superstition, and abhorrence of having their bodies turned over 
for the purpose of dissection. 

The proceeding analysis indicates that the conservation 
of the health of the Negro in Pittsburgh is a very complex 
problem, and is inter-related with his social, moral, industrial, 
housing and racial situation. The Negro is affected by all the 
elements which render difficult the preservation of health 
among whites but in a greater degree. Many of the factors 
which work continuously to undermine his health are to a 
large extent eliminated among whites ; and on the other hand, 
much of the effective work done by whites to counteract these 
bad influences is entirely lacking among Negroes. 

"The Triad of 'baby-killers' — poverty, ignorance and ne- 
glect" — says Dr. Sobel, of the New York Health Department, 
"works havoc among Negro children to a greater extent even 
than among the whites." 

"The well-known relationship between family income and 
infant mortality exists among Negroes as among the whites. 
The crude death rate is exceedingly high in all Negro districts. 
There are, however, well-defined differences in their respective 
rates, resulting, we think, from economic conditions. In the 
districts where the family income is highest, the death rate is 
lowest, confirming the opinion that if we can improve the social 
and economic condition of the Negro, an appreciable reduction 
in their death rate will have been secured." (August, 1917 
Bulletin of the Department of Health, New York City, pages 
87 and 88.) 

While we may admit the claim often advanced that even 
under the same conditions disease and infant mortality among 
Negroes would ordinarily be higher than that of the whites, 
because, due to the climatic and environmental maladjustments, 
his racial power of resistence is not as great as that of the 
white ; the Negro is still confronted with many forces which 
handicap and work against him, but which are almost non- 
existent among the whites. 

From our discussion of employment, housing and op- 
portunities for advancement in Pittsburgh, the reader will 
realize the difficulties and hardships which the Negro is com- 
pelled to face in this city. Only a very few of the Negro mi- 
grants earn more than $3.60 a day for twelve hours work. Half 
of the families here live in one room dwellings. Practically 
all of the mothers are doing some work outside the home. The 
Negroes have as yet no organization for mutual cooperation. 
They live separate and apart from each other. In many cases 

61 



for instance, it was found in our survey, that women living 
next door to each other for months would hardly know one an- 
other, although often they would both come from the same state 
and even from the same city. The Negroes are more exposed and 
liable to disease because their social, industrial, educational and 
moral development is more handicapped than that of the white 
man. The Negro is apparently as yet not free even in the 
North ; he is still held captive in economic bondage, and is deter- 
red from rising above the lowest servant class. He is, judging 
from the present situation, limited to common labor at thirty 
cents an hour during prosperous times. 

The conservation of health, is as we have seen, no longer 
the problem of the individual. It is therefore time that we 
awaken to the realization that sickness and a high mortality 
rate among Negroes is no longer the problem of the Negro alone. 
Eventually all of us will have to pay the price for our indiffer- 
ence, both in money and in lives. The taxpayer ultimately pays 
for hospitals and morgues, as well as for jails and prisons. Our 
children are not at all immune from the sources of disease 
which are ravaging the colored children. This problem is our 
problem ; we must face it squarely, and see whether any improve- 
ment in this situation is possible. 

The significance of such a study and its importance as the 
basis for a practical program is clearly demonstrated by the 
remarkable results brought about in New York City through a 
similar study. After a survey of conditions in the Columbus 
Hill District, the Negro section of the Borough of Manhat- 
tan the startling evidence of conditions prevailing there 
stimulated the New York Bureau of Child Hygiene to take 
action. This Bureau has succeeded in reducing the infant 
mortality rate among colored people from 202 deaths per thou- 
sand children born in 1915 to 193.3 in 1916, and to 180 per 
thousand children born during the first six months of 1917. 

Dr. Jacob Sobel, Chief of the Division of Baby Welfare, 
writes as follows in one of the recent monthly bulletins of the 
New York Department of Health.* 

"The stimulus to our program was given by a study of 
conditions in the Columbus Hill District, and it was here that 
our efforts were first concentrated. It was our knowledge of 
the conditions in this district which led to an effort on the part 
of the Bureau of Child Hygiene to institute a campaign against 
the excessive death rate among colored infants, by studying 
primarily the needs of the situation, and by securing the co- 

*August, 1917 Bulletin of the Department of Health, New York City. 

62 



operation of all agencies and individuals interested in the wel- 
fare of colored people. With this end in view, there was first in- 
stituted a preliminary census of the babies residing in the above 
district, by house to house canvas, and an effort was made to 
have these babies enrolled at the Baby Health Station within 
said district. Mothers' meetings were held at schools, settle- 
ment houses, churches, etc., at which the physicians of the 
Health Department gave short talks to the parents of the 
neighborhood. The co-operation of prominent colored citizens, 
ministers, physicians, newspaper men, etc., of the district, 
was secured. Educational slides, containing pointed references 
to the high mortality among colored babies, and special refer- 
ence to the high mortality in particular sections inhabited by 
colored people, were prepared and displayed on the screens of 
the various moving picture houses in this and other districts. 

"A series of articles on baby care was published in one of 
the newspapers read largely by the colored race, namely, 'The 
Amsterdam News', under the title of 'The Baby', and presented 
short heart-to-heart talks on baby care. The Department of 
Health also published a local bulletin for this district, known 
as 'The Columbus Hill Chronicle', in which special attention was 
directed to conditions among the colored population, with 
specific recommendations for the improvement of their health 
and surroundings. 

"In view of the large number of working mothers among 
the colored people, a temporary shelter or day nursery for col- 
ored babies was established in this district through the coopera- 
tion of the Babies' Welfare Association, and funds have subse- 
quently been provided, through private means, for the permanent 
equipment and maintenance, in the heart of this district, of a 
day nursery for colored children. 

"The 'Little Mothers' of this district was organized, and 
in this way a large amount of education was brought into the 
homes. 

"Immediately upon the receipt of notification of births in 
this and other colored districts, the Bureau of Records notified 
the Baby Health Station, in order that the home might be 
visited, and the infant enrolled for care and treatment. 

"Special attention was directed to the supervision of col- 
ored babies boarded out in the homes, and wherever a colored 
baby was found, not a relative of the occupant of the premises, 
information was elicited whether this individual had a permit 
to board and care for a baby, as required by the provisions of 
the Sanitary Code. 



63 



"Provision was made for the distribution of free milk and 
free ice, to needy families of the districts, through the organ- 
ized relief agencies and ice companies, 

"Special attention was directed towards securing employ- 
ment for the fathers, so as to keep the mothers at home as much 
as possible. 

"To supplement the work of baby care, two nurses were 
assigned by the Department of Health to the Columbus Hill 
and Upper Harlem Districts, for instruction and supervision 
of expectant mothers. The Association for Improving the 
Condition of the Poor also assigned a nurse to the Columbus 
Hill District for similar instruction, so that a beginning was 
made to bring the colored expectant mother under the guid- 
ing influence of trained nurses. 

"The cooperation of the Tenement House Department was 
affected to the extent that special attention was given to the 
sanitary condition of the tenements occupied by colored people. 

"In a further eifort to control the mortality among the 
colored babies, the policy of the Bureau to assign nurses dur- 
ing the summer months to those districts of the city showing 
a high infant mortality rate and a high birth rate, was ap- 
plied with special reference to the colored sections, and a large 
force was assigned there, each nurse having under her direct 
charge from 100 to 150 babies during these months, keeping 
up this complement whenever, through death or removal, the 
number fell below the required amount." 

It is inevitable with any group, suddenly trans- 
ferred into a new situation, that striking maladjustments 
should arise. While single instances of suffering very often are 
misleading and do not give a just view of the case, numerous 
and typical incidents which are by no means exceptional or 
exaggerated may help to visualize the problem. 

A Georgia farmer who is making $3.60 a day for twelve 
hours of work here brought over his wife and eight children, 
the oldest of whom was thirteen years of age, to a house which 
he was fortunate to secure on Second Avenue. Only a few 
weeks after his arrival all of the eight children were taken sick, 
and two of them, one eleven and the other six years old, 
died of pneumonia. Because of the contagion of some of his 
children the man was unable to leave his house for eight weeks. 
His physician said that the death of the children was due to the 
over-crowded condition of the house. This man received no 
charity and the money he had saved up was spent to the last 
cent on doctor bills. 

64 



Mrs. E. H. lives on Crawford Street with her three chil- 
dren the oldest of whom is five years of age. She occupies a 
small and damp room. Since there is no gas in the house, a red 
hot stove can always be found burning in the room which is 
at the same time kitchen, dining room, bedroom and washroom; 
for Mrs. H's husband is in jail somewhere in Georgia, and she 
does washing all day in order to support her children. The 
water supply of the house is in the street, and the stairway 
leading to the upper floors is in her room. All of her chil- 
dren were sick; one had pneumonia. She came here a few 
months ago as everybody else was coming. Relatives and 
charity are helping to support her. 

Mr. F. J. P. was born in Jamaica of well-to-do parents, 
tobacco planters, and was educated in England as a botanist. 
He works now as a common laborer in Pittsburgh for he cannot 
secure work in his own field; he is planning to go back to 
England. 

Mr. J. D. has had his wife here for several months, but 
still has his only child back in Florida as there is no room 
for him in his present place. 

Messrs. E. and R. Smith, one living on Penn Avenue, 
and the other on Ross Street, worked for a steel plant and 
construction company respectively. E. had an eye accident 
and was in the hospital for four weeks, while R. had two 
fingers cut off" while at work. The companies paid the hospital 
bills for both but neither one of them ever heard or knew any- 
thing about compensation, and never claimed any. 

J. G. hails from West Virginia. He has been in town for 
two days and has no room as yet. The lodging places he went 
to asked seventy-five cents a night for a dirty bed. He stayed 
up both nights, and expects to leave the city as soon as he can. 

The Case family have eight children. The oldest is a 
girl of seventeen years of age who works in a hotel. The 
mother works every day in the week ; she leaves home at seven in 
the morning and returns at five o'clock in the afternoon. A 
girl of fifteen takes care of the children in the meantime. 

Mr. P. Roberts was a prosperous Negro in Florida. He 
was an experienced concrete maker, earning according to his 
statement more than five and six dollars a day at home, and 
owning property in the South. When the industrial boom began 
he thought that the wages in his line were much higher here than 
in his own home town, and that it would pay him to come North. 
He came to Pittsburgh together with his wife, five children 
and an old invalid mother who was confined to bed. When first 

65 



visited, Mr. Roberts occupied two small rooms, each having one 
window, in a rooming house where there were about twenty-five 
male roomers. This man could get no work here in his own 
trade, and was trying to save up enough money from his $3.00 
to $3.60 a day to go back to Florida. When Roberts was 
visited again about six weeks after the first visit, his old mother 
had already passed away, his wife had died of pneumonia, while 
his oldest girl of sixteen who had been taking care of the four 
little tots was sick in bed, and the children were playing on the 
streets. Roberts was still trying to save from his $3.60 a day 
sufficient money to carry him back to Florida, which he still 
considers his home, as he owns property there. 

These amazing instances of individual maladjustments are 
bound to arise in any group which goes through such a sudden 
and abnormal transformation. But they are even more fre- 
quent in the race which is still primitive and child-like in many 
ways, with no one to direct, guide and protect them. 

But the significance and danger of these wrongs are even 
of greater importance for the community as a whole, than for 
the few individuals affected. The fact cannot be over-emphasiz- 
ed that the community ultimately pays the price for its stupid- 
ity. Indifference to this problem at present when it still can be 
coped with and adjusted will result in an uncontrolable situa- 
tion later. We have seen above some of the costly results of 
our housing and wage conditions. We have also learned in this 
war that we can no longer afford to breed and foment dis- 
content and antagonism among our own people. We must 
not only see that the strangers among us are adjusted, but that 
they also do not become a menace to the well-being of the com- 
munity. 

It is not sufficient that we bring these people here, give 
them a "bunk-house" or a basement to sleep in, and a job in our 
mills for twelve hours a day. Once these people are in our 
midst they become a part of ourselves, and if we desire them 
to work in harmony with our own interests and not become 
anti-social malcontents we must go further than that. We 
must see that they become part and parcel of our community, 
that they are educated and made familiar with the problems 
that we are facing locally. The man who is here for several 
days and stays up all night because he can find no place to 
sleep cannot be expected to remain for long a social being. 
Pittsburgh's progress will be greatly handicapped if a certain 
element of our community has to take advantage of the sa- 

66 



loon and vice resorts for relaxation. Neither can we afford 
to let a considerable part of our voting population re- 
main, because of lack of intelligence, the prey and spoil 
of politicians who may jeopardize the whole life of the city for 
their own selfish interest. We cannot permit sickness and high 
mortality rates among the dark-skinned people. One of our 
big steel mills had to have its whole office and plant forces 
vaccinated, and was even in danger of being quarantined, when 
a number of Negroes working in the plant scattered all over 
the city after a case of smallpox was discovered in the room- 
ing house where these men stopped. The Department of 
Health had a big task hunting these men, and the danger to 
which the whole city population was exposed was obvious. No 
more can we afford to let the Negroes become the victims of 
all sorts of anti-social elements and feel complacent after we 
send them for a period of time to the jail or workhouse. They 
are a heavy burden upon the taxpayer while they are in these 
Institutions and often become even a greater menace when they 
are released. Our utmost attention is therefore essential to 
meet the maladjustments before they have become acute; and 
we do not base this claim upon sentimental grounds but upon 
the benefits of economic and social far-sightedness. 

Many Negroes in the North seem to understand the sit- 
uation, and are striving to do their best to help adjust condi- 
tions. Some of the Negro churches in this city for instance 
tried to ameliorate the housing conditions by converting their 
churches into lodging places for the new-comers until rooms 
could be found for them. Besides the Provident Rescue Mission 
on Fullerton Street, which accommodated thirty to forty men 
at a time during the entire winter, at least one other church 
converted the entire building into quarters for migrant families. 
The latter church accommodated a number of families until the 
committee in charge could secure homes for the newcomers. But 
the responsibility of the white people is just as great, and it is 
Indeed in very opportune time that a prophetic warning is 
sounded by a colored writer in a Cleveland paper as follows : 

"Let them alone — permit them to grope blindly through 
the mazes of startling new environments, and in a few years a 
social problem will be created that will require a half century 
and millions of dollars to solve." 

"Let them alone now, permit and enforce them to live in 
unsanitary districts and homes, relieved of Christian and moral 
influence, and what is perhaps a 20,000 responsibility today, 
will become a 50,000 heavy, crime-breeding burden tomorrow." 

67 



"Let them alone today, permit them to become the flots- 
man and jetsam of neglect, or pernicious discrimination — such 
as they were in the South — and tomorrow, having inhaled a 
bit of Northern freedom, they may become a dark, sinister 
shadow falling athwart the white man's door." 

"Let them alone today, permit them to be retired to over- 
crowded shacks and shanties where sanitation is an unuttered 
word, and tomorrow, contagions, arising from these congested, 
unsanitary shanties and shacks, will fly, like the black bat of 
night, over our fair city, and in its wake will stalk the gaunt 
form of Death, claiming thousands of our best white and Col- 
ored citizens as a debt paid for inaction." 

CHAPTER IV. 

Some Constructive Suggestions Looking Toward the Solution 
of a Race Problem Through Race Co-Operation. 

It would indeed be presumptions on our part to attempt 
in this little study to solve the race problem. Our purpose was 
to present the facts as they actually exist and let the reader 
draw his own conclusions. However, a few suggestions looking 
to a constructive policy of meeting the need caused by the 
Negro migration in Pittsburgh may not be amiss. 

The main problem of the Negro migrant in Pittsburgh, 
as the reader has already realized, is his social and industrial 
maladjustment, his lack of organization, and absence of in- 
telligent guidance. The National League on Urban Condi- 
tions among Negroes is attempting to meet this need by act- 
ing as adjusting agency, guide, educator and organizer. This 
League is composed of white and colored men, whose aim is to 
secure cooperation among the races and to act as a social 
medium between the two peoples. Within the last year this 
League has established eighteen different branches in various 
cities. Each of these branches is headed by a trained Negro 
Social worker, who tries to get in touch with the migrants as 
soon as they arrive in the town, and through the cooperation 
of local social agencies and business officials, endeavors to put 
each man into the right place. The League acts as a social- 
izing factor among the colored people with the aim of se- 
curing closer cooperation between the two races. The suc- 
cess of these branches is evidenced by the fact that in some 
cities the League's staff had to be increased three and four 
times the original number within the last year, and in some 

68 



instances these branches were established at the iinvitation 
of Chambers of Commerce. 

A representative of the League who has spent some time 
in studying the situation in Pittsburgh thinks that it is com- 
paratively easy for the League's Secretary here to get in 
touch with the newcomers as soon as they arrive, and to en- 
deavor to eliminate a great deal of the industrial maladjust- 
ment which is due to the ignorance of the newcomer. This 
can be done, he claims, through the cooperation of the more 
than forty colored newspapers in the South, through the var- 
ious branches of the League, and through definite arrangements 
at the Railroad stations. By keeping in touch with the em- 
ployers and industrial concerns, the local Secretary could also 
succeed in reducing the number of men who are misplaced and 
misfits in their present jobs. 

Some suggestions as to the work the League could do in 
Pittsburgh, are thus outlined by the representative of the 
League. 

"Besides the advertising in the newspapers, and the co- 
operation of the League's branches some Traveler's Aid work 
may be done as a result of the heavy Negro migration to 
Pittsburgh. Definite service might be arranged at the rail- 
road stations for directing newcomers to reliable lodging 
houses, so as to protect them from unfavorable surroundings. 
Likewise aid from the police department can be sought to eli- 
minate a large number of crooks and gamblers who thrive off 
the earnings of newly arrived migrants in the congested sec- 
tions. 

"The industrial work is an essential part of our pro- 
gram, including general employment, opening new opportuni- 
ties and vocational guidance. An important part of this work 
will be with the industrial plants employing large numbers of 
Negro migrants. The Secretary will make an especial effort to 
reduce the large Negro labor turnover in the various industrial 
plants by noon-day and Sunday talks, by distributing literature 
among the men and by assisting corporations in getting the 
most reliable type of Negro labor and then seeing to it that this 
labor' is properly treated and given opportunities for advance- 
ment. Vagrancy must not be tolerated in Pittsburgh especially 
when work is so plentiful. 

"The Housing work will be broad and cover both an ef- 
fort to obtain more sanitary houses for Negroes to live in, 
as well as less congested, unhealthy and hence less immoral 
living conditions in certain parts of the city. The difficulties 
might be partially overcome by encouraging the organization 

69 



of a Building and Loan Association and by interesting real 
estate dealers, builders and owners who handle or own property 
in desirable districts to improve the same for Negro tenants ; by 
urging individual home ownership, and, with more chance of 
success in the Pittsburgh district, by convincing industries of 
the basic necessity for building family homes. 

"Health and sanitation are of vital interest to Negroes 
and to Pittsburghers. One of the first efforts will be a cam- 
paign to reduce the high illness and death rates among the 
Negroes. In cooperation with the Bureau of Sanitation, 
physicians and Negro Institutions and Organizations, an edu- 
cational campaign can be waged giving wide publicity to the 
facts obtained and suggesting remedies concerning, 

a. The danger and use of patent medicines ; b. Careless- 
ness in dress ; c. Improper ventilation ; d. Care of infants, etc. 
Following this campaign a general effort may be made 
to clean up Negro neighborhoods, to obtain better and cleaner 
streets and sidewalks, better sanitary inspection, police service 
and if possible, a free bath house for the lower Hill district. 

"The question of amusement and recreation is likewise im- 
portant, as they have a direct bearing on good citizenship. 
Definite cooperation can be established with such existing or- 
ganizations as the Y. M. C. A., Washington Park Playground, 
Settlements, and the churches which have the facilities for such 
work. Boy and girl clubs can be organized under capable 
leaders. A supervised community dance can do much toward 
helping the newcomer to better adjust themselves socially. 

"Delinquency, especially juvenile crime, should be handled 
in connection with the courts, probation officers and schools ; 
the League furnishing through its office Big Brothers and 
Sisters with the idea of organizing this work on a larger scale 
later on. The penal and reformatory institution serving the Com- 
munity should be reached to help discharged and paroled pris- 
oners to obtain a new start and be reclaimed for their own 
good and that of society, 

"A very close relationship must exist between our charity 
and the organized charities, because our association does not 
provide for relief. An effort will be made to develop cooperation 
among welfare organizations already existing in the community, 
to prevent expensive duplication of work and to assure good 
feeling and harmony among workers. 

"The details of this work may be reviewed from time to 
time by an executive committee, which should consist of from 
ten to fifteen persons chosen from the membership of the as- 
sociation." 

70 



APPENDIX 



TABLE NUMBER XXVII 



Increase in Number of Colored Children in the Schools of the 

Hill District from January to October 1917, and 

Number of Children from Southern States 

Since January, 1917. 



NAME OF SCHOOL 



Total Number of 
Coilored Children 



Jan. 



Oct. 









0) m 

m a 

Co •— ' 

^ <D m 

.S o 



Franklin 


69 


99 


37 


44 


Miller 


36 


57 


17 


58 


Madison 


20 


28 


3 


40 


Moor head 


178 


222 


55 


25 


]Minersville 


181 


271 


97 


50 


Letsche 


91 


160 


55 


76 


McKelvy 


88 


120 


33 


36 


Somers 


201 


289 


45 


39 


Watt 


422 


529 


62 


26 


Rose 


129 


198 


62 


53 



1415 1973 

Total Average Increase 40% 



466 



Table number XXVII was compiled from the figures supplied 
by the principals of the eleven schools listed. These schools 
are located in the Hill District. The figures indicate the in- 
crease in the one section only, and do not include all the chil- 
dren who have been brought from the South, but whose parents 
reside in other sections of the city. The marked increase in the 
total number of colored children and the great increase in the 
number of children who have come to this city within the last 



ten months is significant. 



71 



As one would expect the majority of these children are 
in the lower four grades. This was the case even before the 
migration but is especially true since the migration. Many 
of the children from the South either had no schooling at all, 
or were attending schools with lower standards than ours. 

The problem of over-aged pupils is very significant among 
the Negro children. A principal in one of these schools who 
has recently made a little study of over-aged pupils in these 
eleven schools finds that the percentage of Negro children eleven 
years and over in the lower four grades, is far greater than 
that of the whites (sixteen percent Negro as compared with 
four and seven tenths percent whites). This, the same principal 
remarks, is in spite of the' fact that the tendency of the schools 
is often to promote children upon the basis of their size and age, 
rather than because of academic attainment. What is more the 
white children in most of these schools come from homes where the 
parents are not Americans, but foreigners who often do not speak 
the English language. 

The causes for the backwardness of the Negro children are 
deep-lying, and are interlinked with their racial traits, social, 
economic and home environments. Practically all school prin- 
cipals stated that in the first four years the Negro child keeps 
well up with its white school mates, but that after the fourth 
grade, the Negro child often falls behind and cannot keep up 
with the whites. 

It was apparent from our interviews with these principals 
that most of these men and women are quite alert and eager to 
find some means of remedying this difficult situation. Many 
of them have endeavored for a long time to cope with this 
problem, and a few think they have found ways to render more 
rapid progress of these children possible. But in the formal 
character of the school curriculum they have little freedom to 
develop their own schemes. These principals have practically 
all agreed that a system of motor-education which would em- 
phasize the practical and industrial side rather than the purely 
academic, would not only benefit a large number of white 
children, but would prove absolutely invaluable for the colored 
children who, they believe, are more motor-minded than the 
whites. It would certainly, they think, solve the over-age problem 
to a large extent, and would make the chidren better prepared to 
avail themselves of the economic opportunities offered by our 
urban industrialism. 



72 



TABLE NUMBER XXVIII 



Detailed Budget Study of Fifteen Families Including the In- 
come and Expenditures for Seven Consecutive Days 
During the Month of September, 1917. 









•«g 


















e oj 


















c32 b 

be O tS 


CD 






m 




>1 


>> 2 




^-^ Js 


(h 


si 




c 


rt .73 


•-:= a 


-a 


-d cQ y 


Rents 
Week 


o 


.1-1 


u 
3 


^ 




o 
^5 


o 


Clot 
Hou 
and 


5 
o 


CD 




;3 



4 


$25.25 


$4.67 $2.85 


$3.25 


3 


15.00 


7.91 


1.20 


2.40 


4 


18.00 


10.98 


8.66 


2.50 


3 


28.50 


6.38 


9.29 


2.50 


2 


17.00 


3.77 


19.60 


2.10 


3 


18.00 


10.25 


4.05 


2.00 


3 


21.00 


7.35 


.30 


3.50 


2 


18.00 


4.07 


8.02 


3.75 


5 


23.10 


12.78 


6.24 


2.75 


3 


18.50 


4.12 


26.65 


2.00 


g 


15.00 


8.43 


1.24 


4.25 


2 


16.50 


9.51 




3.00 


3 


18.00 


6.10 


1.07 


4.00 


5 


17.00 


13.17 


3.00 


3.00 


5 


14.00 


7.87 


2.48 


6.00 



$1 



. . $0.86 $0.20 

.50 .05 

.40 

10 2.45 .30 



$0.45 



.25 



.33 
2.10 

.20 
1.60 



71^ 



1.50 



1.00 
.05 



.05 

.20 



1.75 



.60 



.80 

.25 
.65 



Table number XXVIII is a study of the budsjets of fif- 
teen migrant families for seven consecutive days. The income 
includes the earnings of both husband and wife. The figures 
on the expenditures are approximately correct, although it was 
possible that in some families there were no big food expendi- 
tures the first day, and in other families food might have been 
left over after the seventh day. 

The wide variation in the expenditures of these families on 
all the necessary articles is significant, and is probably indi- 
cative and typical of the maladjusted life and the diversity of 
the living conditions of the migrants. The wide variety of food 
expenditures is due primarily to the inordinate expenditures for 
meat, which in one or two instances reached over eight dollars 
per week. This is typical of the lack of balance of the diet. 

The few cases of disproportionate expenditures on house- 
hold goods were made by migrants who had bought some 
furniture for their new quarters. It is interesting to note, 
however, that these families were compelled to skimp 

73 



on their food, as their food bills are the lowest. Under 

luxuries we included all expenditures on tobacco, liquor, candy 
and the like. The few cases of considerable expenditures in this 
column are due largely to the liquor bills. The little use of 
these articles in most families is apparent from the table. The 
table as a whole, also, indicates the high cost of the living ne- 
cessities of these migrants in Pittsburgh and their compara- 
tively low wages. 

TABLE NUMBER XXIX 



Negro Families Under Care of the Associated 


Charities with 


Causes of Dependency During the Year 


Ending 




September 30, 1917. 




1. 


Unemployed 


30 


3. 


Child Labor 


1 


4. 


Work shyness 


13 


5. 


Disalibity through industrial accident 


; 2 


6. 


Tuberculosis 


3 


7. 


Other sickness 


34 


8. 


Blindness or sight seriously impaired 


4 


9. 


Other physical handicap 


1 


10. 


Feeble mindedness 


2 


11. 


Epilepsy 


1 


12. 


Insanity 


1 


13. 


Other mental disease 


5 


14. 


Old Age 


10 


15. 


Death or burial 


9 


16. 


Alcoholic intemperance 


17 


17. 


Sexual irregularity 


18 


18. 


Desertion or non-support 


36 


19. 


Imprisonment 


6 


20. 


Juvenile delinquency 


11 


21. 


Abuse or neglect of children 


32 


22. 


Debt 


7 


23. 


Pauperized by unwise charity 


2 


24. 


Hereditary pauperism 


1 


25. 


Begging tendency 


8 


26. 


Illegitimacy 


7 


27. 


Domestic incompetency 


10 


28. 


Illiteracy 


3 


29. 


Domestic infelicity 


1 


30. 


Bad housing 


25 


31. 


Non-adjusted immigrant 


3 



Total 303 

74 






o 
5y) 



^ 
§ 









«l 



3: oi 



2^ 



65 



^r 1 

^1 Si >; 












ERRATA 


Page 


7- 


-Line 1 — 


-for Districts read District. 


Page 


29- 


—Line 9 


— for contained read continued. 


Page 


57- 


—Line 5- 


—for anti-migration read ante-migra- 


tion. 








Page 


60- 


-Table XXVI— third column headed "Total" 


should 


iiot 


appear. 




Page 


71- 


—Instead 


of eleven schools, read ten. 



